


I Want to be Held, Fractured Like Glass

by shawdog21



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, F/F, Gay, Slow Burn, cheryl's problems are dealt with instead of sweeping over them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2019-06-01 12:14:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 25,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15142865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shawdog21/pseuds/shawdog21
Summary: Cheryl has spent her entire life building up her walls, keeping everything inside. Toni is instantly intrigued by Cheryl and tries to befriend her and help her.orI went beyond the show to give lots of Choni slow burn and to try to address the stuff Cheryl is dealing with.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to follow the show moderately closely and I would merely be augmenting it for the occasion. (The occasion being I felt like it.) But I geeked out a bit and strayed away more than I meant to but it's still canon compliant. 
> 
> CW: there will be mentionings of abuse (physical/emotional/verbal), and there will be small depictions but nothing very graphic.

“Care to reconsider your allegiance?” Cheryl Blossom turned and walked away from Archie Andrews before he could respond. She still could not believe that Riverdale High was now infested by Serpents, let alone that the one had the audacity to talk back to her twice now. Cheryl walked to class and couldn’t get that the image of her out of her mind. The way that girl didn’t falter when they were face to face. The way her scowl was one to rival one of Cheryl’s signature scowls.

Cheryl sat in her Biology class attempting to pay attention to her teacher going over mitosis. But instead her mind kept wandering back to that Serpent. She didn’t even know what her name was. Strike that: she didn’t care what that girls name was. She was just another piece of Southside Serpent scum. She didn’t matter.

After that, what’s-her-face, Cha-Cha, who cares? and the rest of the Serpents were out of Cheryl’s mind. It’s not like any of them were going to be in her AP classes, so how inconvenienced would she be by them? Really? After that thought, Cheryl could easily go back to listening about the various stages of mitosis.

English on the other hand was a different matter. Cheryl walked into her classroom and began to make her way to her seat when she realized that her usual seat was occupied. The girl from before was sitting casually in Cheryl’s seat. Cheryl walked up to the desk and the girl gave her a smirk moving her head a little, causing her stupid pink hair to fall in front of her shoulders.

“This seat belongs to moi.” Cheryl said trying to sound calm but also to make it clear that it was a demand.

“I was told the seats weren’t assigned.” The girl easily countered, leaning forward in her seat, resting her arms on the desk and folding her hands.

Cheryl eyed the girl and didn’t bother to hide the look of disgust that came across her face. “On second thought, I wouldn’t want to get any of the diseases that have likely already spread to the chair.” She moved to the seat that was a little behind her but still caught the eye roll that the other girl gave her.

Mrs. Watson started class as soon as the bell rang and felt the need to introduce the new girl as if it was a piece of exciting news that this girl was now in their presence. Cheryl played with her pen with her fingers. Apparently her name was Antoinette Topaz. But she quickly corrected Mrs. Watson, “Toni.”

“Unfortunately Toni we are in the middle of _Much Ado About Nothing_ , I can only give you a day or two to catch up.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve read it a couple of times. I’ll be fine.”

Cheryl almost dropped her pen in surprise. She looked at the back of the girl in front of her and knew that she was smirking. Sure enough, Toni was smiling, she could feel the glare coming from Cheryl and it just made her smile more.

 

Lunch came and with it the daily debate for Cheryl about where to sit. It was easy before when Jason was there; they would sit together just the two of them. Now she had to decide herself. Sometimes she would sit with the River Vixens, it was an easy way to remind the school who was in charge. Occasionally she would sit with Veronica, Archie, Betty, and Kevin. She wouldn’t call them friends but they had their moments and had been there for her on numerous occasions. But most of the time, Cheryl sat on her own. Not in a shunned loser that nobody likes way, but in an “I don’t need you, I’m comfortable and confident by myself” kind of way.

Today Cheryl barely even thought about it before taking a table for herself. She had no interest in sitting with Veronica and Archie after their sad attempt at being a welcoming committee for the Southside scum that now plagued their school. After sitting down at the table she glanced over at the table where the others were sitting and there already seemed to be drama about where Jughead would sit. Normally Cheryl would pay closer attention, she did have to stay on top of any and all gossip, you never know when it’ll come in handy. But the whole Northside/Southside rivalry didn’t seem like it would carry anything _that_ juicy. It didn’t help that Toni was over there.

Toni was watching Jughead but got bored of it as well and looked past him and saw Cheryl sitting on her own. She was surprised to see Riverdale High’s very own Queen Bee sitting by herself. She looked content though; she was just casually eating wedges of carrots.

There was something intriguing about Cheryl and Toni couldn’t take her eyes off of her.

“What are you looking at, Tiny?” Sweet Pea nudged her.

“Hmm?” She asked looking away from Cheryl.

“You were staring.” He said.

“No I wasn’t,” she said a little too defensively. Sweet Pea raised an eyebrow. “I was just zoning out.” She shrugged, hoping she sounded more casual this time.

Sweet Pea just shook his head and rolled his eyes before turning back to Fangs and restarting their conversation. Toni watched him for a moment before glancing over at Cheryl again.

Cheryl was still eating, not really paying attention to anyone. But then Cheryl glanced at the table where Archie and Veronica were sitting and her expression changed. She looked sad; she was looking at them almost longingly. But it was just for a second and then her eyes moved and met Toni’s. Her expression quickly changed to one of disgust and then looked away.

Toni watched her for another moment or two before looking back at the people at her own table. She tried to listen to whatever Fangs and Sweet Pea were talking about, but her mind kept wandering back to Cheryl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr: gay-asa-window - I don't go on much, but I will respond to messages  
> Twitter: shaw_dog21


	2. Chapter 2

Cheryl was walking to the lounge when she heard Veronica say, “the point of this luxury weekend is to relax and unplug.”

“‘Luxury’ and ‘weekend’ two of my favorite words.” Cheryl said as she walked over to Veronica, Archie, Betty, and Jughead. While they were not her top choice companions for a weekend away, Cheryl could really use some time away from Thistlehouse. More specifically: time away from her mother. “So where are we going, and how extravagant of a wardrobe should I pack?”

“Sorry, Cheryl. It’s kind of a romantic, couples only weekend.” Veronica said looking uncomfortable.

“I see.” Cheryl managed not to let her smile fade. “Of course,” she took a small breath, trying to keep her face composed. “My mistake. Well have fun with your romances.” She gave a single nod to the group before turning around and quickly walking out of the door before anyone could see her expression change.

Toni was with Sweet Pea in the hallway when she saw a flash of red hair walk by them. Cheryl usually walked down the halls slowly, with purpose. But right now she was walking quickly, she looked as if she was trying not to cry. Toni watched her and part of her wanted to follow Cheryl. But after a week or so of dirty looks from Cheryl, she decided against it. Following her was just likely to result in a snide comment or two.

 

“That’s all. Enjoy your couples only weekend. Kisses to all, bye now.” Cheryl said into her phone, ended the call, and then continued fixing her hair. She paid no attention to Toni who was walking out of one of the stall to the sink beside hers.

“Did you just tell Jughead that Archie and Betty kissed?” Toni asked as she turned on the faucet and began to wash her hands.

“Yes. So what if I did?” Cheryl didn’t bother to look at Toni; she just finished reapplying her lipstick.

Toni turned to face Cheryl. “Did you at least have a reason?”

“Oh that’s right, you’re new here.” Cheryl put down her lipstick and turned to face Toni. She adopted her best fake smile and her voice gained an octave. “Hi, I’m Cheryl Blossom, AKA Cheryl Bombshell, which means I need no reasons. I simply am. Feel free to tremble.” She turned back to the sink.

Toni stood there for a split second, amazed that those words had actually come out of her mouth. “I have a better idea,” she took a step towards Cheryl. Cheryl turned back to face Toni. “Why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you?” Toni was looking at Cheryl’s face; she put her hand on her arm. “Because clearly you’re in a lot of pain.”

Cheryl looked at Toni’s hand on her arm and then back at Toni, their eyes meeting. Her voice got louder and angrier with each word as she began to shout. “Get your Sapphic Serpent hands off my body!” She slapped Toni’s hand off of her arm as she said “off”. Cheryl grabbed her lipstick and then stormed out of the bathroom.

Toni almost let out a small chuckle and watched Cheryl leave the bathroom. She wasn’t sure what it was about Cheryl that fascinated her.

 

Mrs. Watson picked up her copy of _Much Ado About Nothing_. “It’s one thing to read the play and talk about it, but it’s another thing to actually see it. I was thinking we could do a couple of the iconic scenes. Could I get a couple of volunteers to read parts?”

Cheryl’s hand was instantly in the air.

“Perfect! Cheryl and Toni come on up.” Mrs. Watson said. “Act one, scene one. Line 116. Start with Beatrice’s line Toni.”    

“What?” Cheryl’s face fell as she walked up to the front of the room. “I should clearly be Beatrice.”

“I don’t know,” Toni said walking up as well. “I feel like you are pretty well suited for the role of Bene _dick_.” She smirked at Cheryl who glared back. Toni stopped walking when she was a couple of feet from Cheryl.

A couple of the other students snickered. “Save it for the scene ladies.” Mrs. Watson scolded. “Toni you start with ‘I wonder’.”

Toni looked down at her book and took a breath. “‘I wonder that you will still be talking, Signior Benedick: nobody marks you.’”

Cheryl glared at Toni before looking down at her book. She looked back at Toni and flipped her hair a little. “‘What, my dear Lady Disdain! are you yet living?’”

“‘Is it possible disdain should die while she hath meet food to feed it as Signior Benedick?’” Toni was looking at Cheryl who was looking at her book, still not bothering to hide her annoyance. “‘Courtesy itself must convert to disdain, if you come in her presence.’”

“‘Then is courtesy a turncoat.’” Cheryl looked up. “‘But it is certain I am lov’d of all ladies,’” she looked at Toni and their eyes met. “‘only you excepted; and I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart; for, truly, I love none.’”

Toni smiled a little and rolled her eyes moving to walk around Cheryl as she talked, still not looking at her book. “‘A dear happiness to women: they would else have been troubled with a pernicious suitor.’” Cheryl’s eyes followed Toni but Toni looked around the room. “‘I thank God and my cold blood, I am of your humor for that:’” She spun around and took Cheryl for surprise when their eyes met again. “‘I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.’”

It took Cheryl a second to realize that she needed to say the next line. She quickly looked down at her book, eyes quickly trying to find the next line. “‘God keep your ladyship still in that mind! so some gentleman or other shall ‘scape a predestinate scratched face.’”

Toni moved towards Cheryl slowly who stayed put. “Scratching could not make it worse, an ‘twere such a face as yours were.’”

“‘Well, you are a rare parrot-teacher.’”

“‘A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours.’” They were only a foot or so apart now.

“‘I would my horse had the speed of your tongue, and so good a continuer. But keep your way, i’ God’s name; I have done.’” Cheryl looked up as she finished her line and her eyes met Toni’s again.

Toni paused for a moment. When she spoke her voice was much quieter, almost softer. “‘You always end with a jade’s trick, I know you of old.’” It was silent for a bit and both girls just continued to look at the other.

Cheryl was the first to realize that they were just staring at each other and quickly cleared her throat, turned, and walked back to her seat. Toni watched her and smiled a little before walking back to her seat as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realised that this chapter doesn't actually have tons of my own writing in it, most of them are not like this but I do have the occasional scene that will be pretty much the scene from the show but as it goes on, the scenes will be more and more altered. Also, I was doomed to become a Shakespeare nerd and so there's a bit of him in this fic. Anyways, comments are always wonderful.
> 
> I need to talk about Choni with people
> 
> Tumblr: gay-asa-window - I don't go on much, but I will respond to messages  
> Twitter: shaw_dog21


	3. Chapter 3

Cheryl sat at her vanity, brushing her hair. She could hear the faint sounds of her mother and whatever male suitor she had over. Cheryl had no interest in staying in the house but she didn’t really have anywhere else to go either. She glanced at her phone and pressed the lock button. The screen lit up and she saw her wallpaper, an old picture of her and Jason, appear. For a moment she was disappointed, hoping that she had had some form of notification. But she wasn’t surprised. The only people she slightly considered friends were busy on their “couples only” trip. Not that she cared.

She cared. Not that the “core four” or whatever stupid name they called themselves went on a trip with out her. She didn’t even really care that their “romantic, couples only weekend” was a not so subtle reminder that she was single. It was that in that moment she realized that she didn’t really have anyone.

The sounds of her mother got louder and Cheryl walked over to her laptop and hit play, figuring that whatever music came on would be better than having to hear her mother’s sex noises. Plus it would get her out of her head and out of the pity party that she seemed to be throwing for herself.

But of course Taylor Swift came on. Not some power anthem from _Reputation_ , no it was “This Love” from _1989_. Cheryl sighed but didn’t bother to change the song. She unlocked her phone and went on instagram. Sure enough Veronica had posted a selfie of the four of them. Cheryl locked her phone again and tossed it onto her bed. She took a deep breath, looked back at her reflection and shook her head a little, clearing her hair from her shoulders.

Taylor Swift continued to play and she stood there for a moment staring at her reflection. “And I could go on and on, on and on / Lantern burning, flickered in my mind for only you / But you're still gone, gone, gone” played through the room and Cheryl listened to the words. She felt herself starting to tear up, and she breathed out of her mouth a little.

No, she was not going to cry. Cheryl Blossom does not cry. She stopped the music and then picked up her laptop and moved to her bed, putting Netflix on. She started the next episode of _Friends_ and made herself give all of her attention to the show.

It reached the point of “The One Where Ross Got High” where Ross and Monica were revealing the others secrets and Cheryl was laughing as they became more and more ridiculous. She glanced at the empty space on her bed, wishing that there was someone there with her, laughing along with her.

No, she was not going to that place. She shook her head, trying to shake the thoughts out of her head. _Focus on the show Bombshell_ she thought to herself. “Focus on the show.” She said quietly to herself. And she did, watching episode after episode. She smiled along with the show, occasionally actually laughing out loud until she managed to fall asleep.

 

The weekend dragged by slowly. Cheryl spent most of it in her room, watching Netflix. She managed to watch two seasons of _Grey’s Anatomy_. Sure it was over the top and those workplace romances were beyond inappropriate, but it was an easy show to get absorbed into and not have to think about real life too much. The only time she really left her room was to take Nana Rose out around the property.

Monday morning came and Cheryl walked towards the lounge. She took a step into the lounge and saw Veronica and Archie sharing a chair that was not really big enough for two people and Jughead and Betty were sitting on the couch together closely. She looked at the four of them, turned around and walked back out of the room before any of them could notice her.

Cheryl kept walking until she was down the hall where there was an empty classroom. She opened the door and sat down in one of the seats a little back in the room so that passersby couldn’t see that she was in there. She pulled out her copy of _Much Ado About Nothing_ and began to read it.

The door opened and Cheryl looked up and angrily sighed, seeing Toni walk through the door. “Why do you keep stalking me?” She asked as she put down the book.

“I’m not,” Toni said. She moved into the room a little bit more. “If anything you’re stalking me. This room is the Swords and Serpents meeting room.”

“What in God’s name is that?”

Toni sat on the desk that was not too far away from Cheryl. “Some club Jughead started as a cover for the serpents to meet.” Toni rolled her eyes a little as she crossed her legs.

“Well, your club president is over in the lounge with his girlfriend.”

“And you’re not there?” Toni leaned her chin on her right fist, elbow on her leg.

“Ah no thank you.” Cheryl crossed her arms. “Between Varchie making out and Bughead likely to start bickering at any moment, I am more than happy to be away from that.”

“‘Varichie’ and ‘Bughead’?”

“Ridiculous names that they use to refer to themselves and each other because nobody else is idiotic enough to call them that.”

Toni smiled and laughed a little. Cheryl gave a small yet genuine smile. Toni’s smile grew seeing the other girl smile. Cheryl was pretty when she smiled. Strike that: she was beautiful when she genuinely smiled. Not like that fake smile she had when she introduced herself as “Cheryl Bombshell” in the bathroom. She realized she was staring at Cheryl and cleared her throat a little and looked down at the desk Cheryl was sitting behind. “I didn’t think Miss Perfect GPA would be behind in reading.”

Cheryl looked to see where Toni was looking and saw her book sitting on the desk. “Just reading ahead.” She shrugged, her smile turning back into one of her fake ones. “Which movie adaptation did you watch so you can pretend like you’ve actually read the play?”

Toni bit the inside of her lip a little, debating about how to respond. She shrugged “at least I get out of reading it.” Toni slid off of the desk and walked backwards towards the door. “I’ll see you around Bombshell.” She gave her a small head nod and a wink and waited to see Cheryl roll her eyes before turning around and walking out the door.

As soon as the door closed behind Toni, Cheryl let out a small breath. She couldn’t get the image of Toni leaning down, looking at her, out of her head. How her eyes had followed the fishnet stockings up Toni’s legs to her shorts that were probably too short to wear to school. Not that she minded.

No.

Cheryl was not thinking about that. She was not thinking about how her dark grey tank top was loose but also tight, hugging her waist perfectly. She was not thinking about those things. No those thoughts were deviant as her mother said. They were wrong, and they were not thoughts that she was having.

Cheryl refused to let herself think about the way that her heart had jumped a little when Toni had smiled at her or how her laugh was one of the best sounds that Cheryl had heard in a long time. She quickly opened up her book and tried her best to read and to get the idea of Toni out of her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr: gay-asa-window - I don't go on much, but I will respond to messages  
> Twitter: shaw_dog21


	4. Chapter 4

As soon as Cheryl got home, she made her way straight to her bedroom. She picked up her laptop and headphones and then went into her closet. It was the best place to hide from her mother and avoid hearing her. Headphones were nice because they added an extra level of distance from the house.

She put the headphones in her ears and hit shuffle on her Spotify Daily Mix. She needed something to distract herself. An upbeat poppy song came on and Cheryl bobbed her head a little along with the melody that had started. She listened to the words, it was catchy and was the perfect level of distracting.

“Playing with my fingertips / Sitting there biting your lip / Trying to kiss, who are you trying to trick? / Why don't you just cut the shit? / 'Cause baby, you know that you got it / Girl, yeah, you know that you want it / Girl, why can't you just be honest? / With yourself”

Cheryl quickly stopped the song. This was not what she needed to hear. She glanced at the album art that was in the corner of her screen and saw a small picture of a girl in a chair looking at another girl who appeared to be naked. She paused, looking at the picture. She glanced around the closet as if she was expecting someone to be watching her.

Cautiously she opened up a window on incognito and typed “Hayley Kiyoko”. She paused for a moment. She closed her eyes and hit the enter button. After a moment or two, she opened up her eyes slowly and instantly looked at the small collage of pictures in the upper left corner. The girl was beautiful. No. She was just objectively attractive, like Betty. If she could be bothered to take her hair out of that ridiculous ponytail, but that didn’t mean anything. Cheryl looked away from the picture and scrolled down a little and saw a couple of videos suggested. She saw one called “Girls Like Girls” and moved the cursor over it.

After looking around the closet again, she clicked on the video. The video came up and she hit the full-screen button as she saw a girl biking down the street. The music started and Cheryl wanted to turn it off, but she didn’t. She needed to know what happened between the two girls, they seemed to have a strong connection their relationship seemed beautiful. It reminded her of her and Heather. Although the clothes that the girl with the boyfriend reminded Cheryl of the clothes that Toni wore. She shook her head a little, no she was not going to think about Toni, not at all let alone not like this.

The girls were about to kiss when the guy pulled them apart, yanking her hair. Cheryl instantly reached for her hair, touching it gently, remembering when her mother had yanked her hair like that after finding her and Heather in the same bed together. But then the girl fought back in a way that Cheryl wished that she had had the strength to do. As the girls kissed, Cheryl felt herself smiling. The screen went black and she saw her reflection a little, she hadn’t realized that she had been crying a little. She quickly wiped her eyes and sniffled a little, sitting up straighter.

She took a small breath and looked around her closet. The irony of her location was dawning upon her. No, it wasn’t ironic because she wasn’t closeted. She was nothing; she wasn’t sick or deviant like those girls were.

Cheryl needed to clear her head. She closed the window and then her laptop and then moved out of her closet and out of her room. She instantly heard the sounds of her mother from the other side of the house and groaned a little. Cheryl walked down the stairs and went to find Nana Rose.

Nana Rose was sitting in her wheelchair, watching her shows on a small television. There were numerous televisions around the house, all significantly larger than this one that was barely bigger than a toaster. But this was the one that Penelope deemed Nana was allowed to use.

Cheryl crouched down a little so that she could be beside her grandmother and held one of her hands in her own. Nana Rose glanced over and smiled, patting Cheryl’s hand with her free one. “Let’s go outside dear,” she said quietly.

Cheryl nodded and stood up. She moved behind the wheelchair and began to push her grandmother towards the backdoor. They heard the distant sounds of Penelope and Cheryl let out a breath. “Don’t worry about her dear.”

“She’s not the one I’m worried about.” Cheryl murmured as they got outside.

“I’ll be fine.” She said casually. “But you should go out more. I don’t like you being cooped up in your room all the time.”

“You’re cooped up here all the time. Mother never leaves the house.”

“You are not your mother.” Cheryl smiled at her grandmother’s words. “You are nothing like her. You are full of love.”

Neither spoke as Cheryl pushed her grandmother around the greenhouse. She thought about what she had said. “You are full of love.” “You are not your mother.” It made her think of the video she had watched earlier. The two girls seemed to care about each other so much. Her heart ached a little; she knew that no one would look at her the way that they had looked at each other.

“Cheryl!” Cheryl looked over at the entrance to the greenhouse where her mother was striding over to them. “You know you can’t disrupt your grandmother’s schedule.”

“Nana Rose asked me to bring her out here.” Cheryl moved away from Nana Rose a little.

“One of these days you may learn not to talk back.”

“And one of these days you may learn skills that don’t involve having sex.”

Penelope’s face fell instantly and Cheryl regretted her words. She charged towards her daughter and grabbed her wrist, holding it tightly. “I will not have this disobedience anymore. Now take your grandmother inside and then stay in your room and out of my sight.” Cheryl refused to let herself cry. She stared at her mother refusing to look away first. “Go.” Penelope said and dropped Cheryl’s wrist.

Cheryl moved to her grandmother and began to push her back to the house, trying her best to ignore the pain in her wrist. She refused to look at it. She knew it was red and could feel the marks from her mother’s nails, which would likely still be there the next day.


	5. Chapter 5

Toni walked into the Sword and Serpents room. Cheryl was sitting alone at the same desk she had been at the previous day. She was reading a copy of _As You Like It_. Toni looked at her for a moment she seemed content, at peace, in one of her normal red long sleeve shirts, that clung tightly to her body. Toni looked at her face, Cheryl’s eyes were quickly moving along the page.

“You know I think you can be arrested for stalking,” Toni said as she moved more into the room.

“You wish I was stalking you.” Cheryl didn't glance up from her book.

“If I didn't know any better,” Toni sat on the desk closest to Cheryl. “I’d say you wanted to see me.” Cheryl scoffed. “You knew this was our room and there would be a good chance I'd be here again.”

“For your information,” Cheryl put the book down and leaned forward in her seat. “This is one of the only empty rooms which means it's quiet.”

“You don't get enough quiet in that big fancy mansion of yours?”

“I wish,” Cheryl's face fell a little and Toni noticed this instantly. “There are different types of quiet anyway.”

“Do you want me to leave?” Toni asked carefully.

“I don't care.” Cheryl's voice was flat, expressionless. It wasn't snarky or sarcastic like Toni expected.

“How do you like it?” Toni motioned to the book.

“Let me guess,” Cheryl leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms across her chest. “You’ve read it already.”

Toni smiled a little. “Yeah. But only once or twice so I’m rereading it for class. _Much Ado About Nothing_ is my favorite so I know that one best.”

Cheryl leaned forward, resting her chin on her fist, elbow on the desk. “You genuinely like Shakespeare?”

“Yeah,” she shrugged. “They’re both predictable and surprising at the same time.”

Cheryl thought for a moment. “I guess you’re right. I just hope we move on after this, I need a breakspeare from Shakespeare.” She said in a fairly serious sounding voice.

“Did Cheryl Bombshell Blossom just make a joke?” Toni asked trying to hold her laugh in.

“Don’t get used to it Cha-Cha.” Cheryl rolled her eyes but was smiling.

She had a beautiful smile, Toni thought. They were both smiling, looking at the other. “You're just full of surprises aren't you?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you joined us at the rally on Pickens Day, you spoke at FPs trial.”

Cheryl scoffed again. “It’s not like I had an option for the trial.” She glanced down at the book.

“Wait, what do you mean?” Toni moved forward.

Cheryl looked up and their eyes met, she chewed on the inside of her mouth a little and took a small but deep breath through her nose. “There was a tape of my brother’s death and Betty threatened to release it if I didn’t testify on behalf of FP.”

“What?” Toni practically screamed. Cheryl looked a little taken aback, surprised by the other girl’s response. “Did Jughead know?”

“I have no idea.” Cheryl rolled her eyes and moved back in her seat again. “It’s not like it really matters anymore. People in this town,” she paused. “People in this town just do what they want, what is best for them no matter who it hurts.” She made a face as if to say ‘whatever.’ “We’ve all done it.”

“That doesn’t make it okay.”

Toni started to reach out to touch Cheryl but then stopped, thinking better of it. Cheryl’s eyes followed Toni’s hand. She was a little disappointed; all she wanted was for Toni to touch her again. Then she fully realized what she had been thinking and cleared her throat.

“I am late for class,” Cheryl said and quickly got up and left the room.

Toni watched her leave and then glanced at the clock on the wall, there was still five minutes before class started. She looked back at the seat that Cheryl had been in and saw that she had left her copy of _As You Like It_. Toni paused and then picked it up, English was their second class so she figured it’d just be easiest to give it to her then. She put the book in her bag and then walked out of the room.

Toni passed the lounge on her way to English. She usually avoided the lounge, but she saw Jughead and Betty cuddling on the couch and she paused. She glanced at her bag and saw Cheryl’s book. She strode into the room. She took a look to see who else was there, luckily the room was empty except for the three of them.

“You blackmailed Cheryl?” Toni said as soon as she got close to the two.

“What?” Jughead asked.

“You,” she pointed at Betty. “You threatened to release a video of her brother being killed just so she would do what you wanted?” Toni was angry; she was disgusted that she was even saying these words.

“You did that?” Jughead asked pulling away from Betty a little.

“It was the only way to get FP out of jail. I did it for all of you.”

“Don’t pretend like you care about us.” Toni snapped, shaking her head. “You did this for you.”

“FP didn’t kill Jason, he shouldn’t have been in jail.”

“And your answer was blackmail?” Neither Betty nor Jughead responded. “You’re not going to say anything?” Toni demanded at Jughead.

“You shouldn’t have done that Betty.” Jughead said.

“Wow,” Toni nodded and then shook her head. “That’s all you two can say?”

“What do you want me to say, Toni, that was my dad.”

“I know,” Toni said quietly. “But that was _her_ brother being murdered by _her_ father and no matter how empty of a threat it was, threatening to release that video is beyond low Cooper.”

“Since when did you become the captain of the Cheryl Blossom defense squad?” Betty asked.

“I’m- I’m not,” Toni stuttered. Why was talking about Cheryl making her flustered? Toni Topaz does not get flustered, let alone over some girl. “I’m just sick of people doing what they want without thinking about other people.” She spun around and walked out of the lounge and towards her English class.

Cheryl was already in her seat, taking out a notebook and pen. Toni reached into her bag and pulled out the book. “Here you go Bombshell,” she lightly tossed the book onto Cheryl’s desk.

Cheryl looked from the book then up at Toni. Her face was emotionless. “Thanks,” she said coldly. “But I don’t need some serpent trash doing me any favors.”

“Okay,” Toni said slowly. She looked at Cheryl for another second and then sat down in her seat, unsure of what had just happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad people are enjoying it so far. I've been having a great time writing this, it's gotten me out of a major writing slump. Comments are always amazing, I need to talk about more Choni with people so feel free to hit me up!
> 
> Tumblr: gay-asa-window  
> Twitter: shaw_dog21
> 
> Also shout out to my buddy Hope (even though she won't see this) for giving me one of the best garbage lines.


	6. Chapter 6

Cheryl walked towards her English class. She hadn’t been able to shake her conversation with Toni from earlier. It seemed as if Toni genuinely cared about Cheryl’s feelings. She didn’t know why though, she had given Toni no reason to care for her. Toni had almost touched her today. She wished Toni had touched her. She yearned to feel the warmth from Toni’s hand again.

Then she heard Toni’s voice. It was faint but it was hers and it was angry. “You threatened to release a video of her brother being killed just so she would do what you wanted?”

Cheryl paused beside the door so that she could hear what was happening. She heard Betty say some half-formed excuse. “Don’t pretend you care about us.” Toni sneered. “You did this for you.”

“FP didn’t kill Jason,” Cheryl’s heart skipped a beat as Betty talked, she rarely heard Jay-Jay’s name anymore.

“And your answer was blackmail?” Toni’s voice was angrier than it had been when they argued on the Southside’s first day at school. “You’re not going to say anything?”

“You shouldn’t have done that Betty.” Cheryl scoffed at Jughead’s weak attempt at confronting his girlfriend.

“Wow. That’s all you two can say?”

“What do you want me to say, Toni, that was my dad.”

Toni’s voice had gotten quieter and Cheryl moved closer so that she could hear better. “But that was _her_ brother being murdered by _her_ father and no matter how empty of a threat it was, threatening to release that video is beyond low Cooper.” Cheryl was confused; no one had ever stood up for her like that since Jay-Jay. But her and Jason were twins; they had a deep connection from before they were born. She barely knew Toni. They’ve talked maybe five times.

“Since when did you become the captain of the Cheryl Blossom defense squad?” Betty asked and Cheryl moved even closer to the door, curious of Toni’s response.

“I’m- I’m not,” She heard Toni say. Of course, Toni didn’t really care about Cheryl. Cheryl didn’t know why she was surprised; no one really cared about her. She quickly moved away from the door and towards her English class.

Cheryl was taking out her stuff for class when she realized that she didn’t have her book. She sighed and pulled out her notebook and pen.

Toni walked over to her. “Here you go Bombshell.” She said and tossed the book onto her desk.

Cheryl looked at the book and then at Toni. Toni was giving her a small smile. “Thanks.” Her voice was cold, but Cheryl didn’t care. The last thing she needed was for this girl to get too friendly. “But I don’t need some serpent trash doing me any favors.” She added just to make sure the serpent got the message.

Toni looked at her, almost sadly, for a moment and then moved to her seat. Cheryl crossed her arms in front of her chest, a small smug smile coming through.

Class ended and Cheryl made her way to the door as quickly as possible. Toni moved quickly after her. “Hey Cheryl,” she said as she caught up to the other girl. She grabbed Cheryl’s arm for a moment but quickly dropped it. Cheryl missed the touch. She spun around and looked at Toni angrily. “Can we talk?” Toni’s voice stayed strong.

“Whatever.” Cheryl said and then waited for Toni to lead them to an empty room. Toni led them back to the Sword and Serpents room, she closed the door behind them and Cheryl just continued to look at her. “Well,” Cheryl’s arms were crossed; she was tapping her foot a little.

“Are you okay?” Toni asked, they were only a foot or so apart.

“I don’t see how that is your concern or business.”

“Something seems genuinely wrong.”

“You don’t know me.” Cheryl said angrily. “We aren’t friends or what ever you think we are.”

Toni took a step back and stammered a little. “I- I.”

“I can take care of myself. I don’t need you,” she pointed at Toni. “Or anyone else getting in my business.” She took a step closer to Toni. “So why don’t you go slither back to whatever roach-infested trailer you call home and leave me alone.” She over-enunciated the last three words.

Toni looked at her. She looked at Cheryl’s raised eyebrow, her dark but blank eyes, the scowl on her face, and her raised hand. Toni saw faint marks on her wrist, where Cheryl’s shirtsleeve had slid down a little. It looked like fingernail marks, and she knew it must have hurt. “Fine,” Toni said coolly. “Have it your way.” She said and then walked out the door of the classroom.

 

Cheryl sat on her closet floor, headphones in her ears. She drummed her fingers on the base of the laptop near the mouse pad. She glanced around herself before opening up an incognito window and searched Hayley Kiyoko on YouTube. Her YouTube mix came up and Cheryl hit play.

The music video for “Feelings” came on and Cheryl heard familiar sounding poppy music. She watched as a group of people drove around in a Jeep, they seemed to be having a great time. Then there was a girl, walking alone. Cheryl felt her eyes following the walking girl’s butt. Her pants were tight and damn she had a good ass.

Hayley started to sing and Cheryl wanted to stop the video almost instantly. The lines “They say I'll get hurt, if I'm not like ice / I know I've got friends, I still get so lonely / If I look in your eyes, I want you to hold me” hitting a little too close. But she didn’t, she wanted to see what would happen. With each new line, she felt that it was talking directly to her.

It made her think of Toni. Perhaps she had been a little too harsh today. She had genuinely looked a little hurt when Cheryl told her off. If Toni had simply given her back her copy of _As You Like It_ , Cheryl wouldn’t have minded. But she had confronted Betty and Jughead about the tape. Cheryl didn’t know what Toni’s game was, but she knew that getting involved could only lead to problems.

“Sleepover” came on and Toni was still in Cheryl’s mind. She thought of her long light brown hair with bits of pink in it. She had thought that the pink was stupid at first, but it actually worked for her. Okay, it looked really good on her. “At least I got you in my head,” played and Cheryl closed her eyes a little and hit her head gently against the wall. She saw Toni strutting down the hallway in that ridiculous jacket. Sure that jacket wasn’t completely ridiculous, it made her look hot and kind of bad ass.

Cheryl needed to get rid of these thoughts. She didn’t get close to people; she couldn’t get close to people. It was better for everyone if she just kept her distance from Toni. Maybe a comment here and there, but that was it.


	7. Chapter 7

For a Tuesday night, the Whyte Wyrm was pretty crowded. Toni didn’t mind though, it kept her distracted from earlier today. She couldn’t get Cheryl out of her mind for the rest of the school day. It was obvious that Cheryl was in a lot of pain. But whatever steps they had made, she had pushed too hard and now they were back to before square one.

“You look like crap,” Sweet Pea sat down in one of the few empty stools in front of the bar.

“Hey,” she said and pulled out a glass that she filled with beer.

Sweet Pea took a large gulp of his beer and watched Toni. “Wanna talk?”

Toni rolled her eyes and shook her head. “It’s whatever.”

“Hey Toni,” Jughead took the seat next to Sweat Pea. “I wanted to apologize for earlier.”

“You didn’t blackmail her.”

Sweet Pea looked between them. “No, but I didn’t react well either. Trust me, I never would have let Betty blackmail Cheryl. I wanted my dad free but not like that.”

“Whoa, Betty blackmailed Cheryl? Your girlfriends got bigger balls than I thought she did.” Sweat Pea said. Toni glared at him. “No?” He cowered a little at the cold look he was getting from Toni. “I’ll just,” he fell silent and just continued to drink his beer.

“I know,” Toni said. “I put you in an awkward position. I shouldn’t have done that.” She paused. “It just seems like you guys don’t really care about Cheryl all that much, you just use her when you need her.”

“I didn’t know that you and Cheryl were that close.”

“We’re not,” Toni said quickly. A little too quickly and Sweet Pea noticed this. He watched her quickly pick up a rag and start to wipe down the counter. “She seems,” Toni paused trying to find the right word. “Sweeter than you guys make her out to be.”

“Cheryl Blossom is not sweet,” Jughead said. “Wasn’t it like a week or two ago when you almost fought her in the middle of the hallway?”

Toni shrugged. “I just think you and your friends could give her a bit of a break.” She said trying to sound as casual as possible.

Jughead was about to respond when someone called his name. He got off of his stool and then walked away.

Toni glanced back at Sweet Pea who was smiling at her with a knowing smile. “Shut up.” Toni said.

“Cheryl Blossom?” He said, still smiling. He rested his chin on his hand. “I can see it.”

“Shut up.” Toni said again, trying to sound firm. But she could feel her face turning a little red.

“Man, Toni Topaz and the most Northside Northsider possible.”

“She’s not _that_ bad.”

“Aha!” Sweet Pea said and Toni regretted what she had said. “You do like Red!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Sweet Pea looked at her for another moment. “What time do you get off?”

“I’m closing.” She looked around the bar; she could tell it wasn’t going to die down anytime soon.

“Need to crash at my place tonight?”

“Yes please.” She smiled genuinely at him.

“All I ask in return is you spill all the details about Red.” Toni glared at him and tilted her head. He knew that she would have punched him if she weren’t behind the bar. “I’m just kidding.” He put his hands up and face her softened a little. “I’ll drop it Topaz.”

“There’s nothing to talk about anyways.” She lied.

 

It was a little after two in the morning when Toni got back to Sunny Side Trailer park. She went straight to Sweet Pea’s trailer, knowing that her uncle’s would have been locked hours ago. Sweet Pea had left the door unlocked and Toni walked in and locked the door behind herself.

She moved quietly through the dark trailer to the couch that had an extra pillow sitting on it. Toni smiled a little and took off her leather jacket, laying it on the armrest of the beat-up couch. She took off her shoes and then lay down on the couch, pulling down an old blanket and spreading it across her body.

The moonlight glowed through the cracks of the blinds and Toni stared at the light. She heard the sound of a door opening and she moved a little. Sweet Pea walked out of his room towards the bathroom, rubbing his eyes. A minute or so later, Sweet Pea walked back out of the bathroom and saw Toni was watching him.

“Did you just get here?” He asked, yawning.

Toni nodded. “Yeah,” she said quietly.

He moved closer to the couch. “You okay?”

“Yeah, just thinking.”

“You know I was just kidding earlier, right?” He sat at the edge of the couch.

“Mhmm,” Toni let out a laugh and sat up. “I mean me and Cheryl Blossom? What a joke.”

Sweet Pea smiled. “That’d be a riot.”

“Exactly.”

“You were just standing up for the little guy who needs a voice.”

Toni gestured at him and nodded. “That’s exactly what it was.”

“You’re good at that T, how we became friends.” He paused. “Never thought that Cheryl Blossom would be the little guy.”

“People surprise you.” Toni shrugged.

“They sure do.” He put his hand on her knee lightly. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Night.” Toni said and Sweet Pea stood up and walked back to his room. “Thanks.”

“Always.” He said and then closed the door behind himself.

Toni laid back down and closed her eyes. She couldn’t get Cheryl out of her mind. She couldn’t forget the look Cheryl had had. It was anger, definitely, but she could see the pain behind her brown eyes, that she was likely trying as hard as she could to keep hidden. The nail marks in her wrist had been faint, but there was no denying that they were there. She could remember when she had had to cover the marks on her arms and shoulders from her father.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come yell at me
> 
> Tumblr: gay-asa-window  
> Twitter: shaw_dog21


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been updating on Mondays/Thursdays but I'm moving today and won't have internet at my place until Thursday so I wasn't sure if I'd be able to update on Monday. If I can then I will, but I wanted to post one beforehand just in case. AND this is one of my favourite chapters to write, I geeked out a bit and it's a longer one than normal. 
> 
> Thanks to everyone who has been reading and enjoying this. Your comments mean the world to me.  
> Hope you enjoy!!

Cheryl walked into school the next day with a fairly basic plan: avoid Toni Topaz. It would be easy to avoid her for most of the day, the only time that she would have to see her was English class and Cheryl could just move to another part of the classroom where she would not have to look at her. She chose to go to the lounge before class because she knew that there was little chance that Toni would be there. And sure enough, she didn’t show up. Instead Cheryl just had to put up with the obnoxious PDA of Veronica and Archie, and listen to Kevin go on and on about some TV show to Betty.

Unfortunately English class was harder to continue the plan. Cheryl walked into the classroom and saw that the desks that were normally organized in individual rows were now in clusters of four. Each desk had an index card on it. Cheryl groaned group work was the actual worst.

She walked around the desks a little, looking for the card with her name on it. “Bombshell.” Cheryl closed her eyes and sighed heavily as she recognized the voice that said her name. She opened her eyes and moved to look at Toni who was sitting at a cluster. Toni gave her a half smile, “you’re here.”

“Perfect,” Cheryl said smiling her wide, fake smile, her voice significantly higher than normal. Cheryl moved to the cluster and sat in the seat diagonal from Toni, figuring that that was the furthest she could get from her. She folded her arms in front of her chest and refused to look at Toni.

Reggie sat down in the seat next to Cheryl. “Cheryl,” he said to her. “Serpent,” he said to Toni.

Less than a minute later, Kevin sat down in the seat across from Cheryl. “Hey guys,” he said excitedly. “What do you think we’re going to be doing?”

“Hopefully something quick.” Cheryl said.

The bell rang and Mrs. Watson started talking, telling them about their project. She had decided to put them into small groups and assign them a scene from _As You Like It_ to perform.

“So who should be who?” Reggie asked lounging in his chair a little.

“Independent, strong willed, and clever?” Kevin started. “Obviously Cheryl is Rosalind.”

“She does like the sound of her own voice.” Toni added. Cheryl turned and glared at Toni. “Finally, she acknowledges my presence.” Toni put her hand on her chest as if she was honored.

Cheryl rolled her eyes. “The stage does love me, so I would be honored to be our Rosalind. Kevin is clearly Orlando.” Kevin smiled and nodded. “Reggie you work well as Jaques, so I guess you can be Celia.” Cheryl finished looking back at Toni.

“Of course.” Toni gave her a fake smile.

“Should we go and find a place to read through the scene?” Kevin suggested.

“There’s an empty classroom a couple of doors down,” Toni suggested. “Cheryl knows which one I’m talking about.”

Cheryl glared at Toni again. Neither of the boys noticed. “Let’s go!” Kevin said excitedly.

The four of them got up and followed Toni out of the room and down towards the Sword and Serpents room. Toni sat on the teacher’s desk at the front of the room. Reggie sat down at the other end of the desk. Cheryl leaned against a desk near the front of the room and Kevin sat at a nearby desk.

“Remember that at this point Celia is Aliena and Rosalind is disguised at Ganymede.” Reggie looked at her a little confused. “She’s pretending to be a dude.” Cheryl said. “Reginald, you begin.”

Reggie looked at his book. “‘I prithee, pretty youth, let me be better acquainted with thee.’” Reggie snickered a little. “Maybe you should play this guy, Kev.” All three of them glared at him. “Okay,” he said uncomfortably, looking around, his smile fading. “I’ll start again. ‘I prithee, pretty youth, let me be better acquainted with thee.’”

They ran through the scene a couple of times before the bell rang. “So let’s meet tomorrow after school.” Kevin said.

“I know Mrs. Watson said we didn’t need to have it memorized. But _we_ do.” Cheryl said. “I hope that that won’t be too difficult for any of you.”

“You’re the one with the most lines.” Toni said. “I’ll be fine. But thanks for your concern.” She said and walked out of the room.

 

The final bell of the day rang and Cheryl sighed and made her way to the Sword and Serpents room. While she hated group work, she was determined to ensure that her group had the best performance. She walked into the classroom and saw Toni moving the desks to the sides of the room.

“What are you doing?”

“Clearing space.” Toni didn’t bother to look over at Cheryl. “I figured since we were going off book now you’d want to direct us around as well.”

“That makes sense.”

Kevin and Reggie walked in before Toni could respond. Sure enough as soon as they started rehearsing, Cheryl started to order them around with various directions. She had no issue telling them where to stand and how to move. She quickly decided that as they started the scene, Toni should trail behind them. Toni rolled her eyes as she walked a couple of paces behind Cheryl and Reggie as they talked. Kevin sat to the side, trying hard not to laugh at Toni’s facial expressions.

They were midway through the scene and Toni watched Cheryl. It was hard not to since Cheryl was speaking basically every other line and directing the whole thing. But it wasn’t like she was just ordering them around for the sake of it. There was a level of care to the whole thing, as if Cheryl genuinely wanted the scene to go smoothly.

“‘It pleases him to call you so; but he hath a Rosalind of a better leer than you.’” Toni said.

Cheryl looked at her. “Come on Topaz,” Cheryl said. “Use some of that Serpent snark you’ve got.”

Toni looked at her for a second, Cheryl was actually sounding encouraging. “‘It pleases him to call you so; but he hath a Rosalind of a better leer _than_ you.’” Toni said again, much more sarcastically this time.

Cheryl gave her a smile and nod and then turned back to Kevin. “‘Come, woo me, woo me;’”

Toni smiled, watching Cheryl continue to direct the scene. It wasn’t surprising that Cheryl found herself comfortable directing them; it was surprising how good she was. She was even listening to the suggestions that Kevin made, adjusting them only a little.

Toni almost forgot that she was also acting in the scene until Cheryl grabbed her arm and pulled her a little. “‘Come sister, you shall be the priest and marry us. Give me your hand Orlando. What do you say sister?’”

Kevin looked at Toni, who was still looking at Cheryl. “‘Pray thee marry us.’”

Toni didn’t say anything; she was still looking at Cheryl. “Toni?” Cheryl asked. Toni’s eyes widened. “It’s your line.”

“Right.” Toni paused for a second. “‘I cannot say the words.’”

“‘You must begin, “Will you, Orlando” –’”

“‘Go to! Will you, Orlando, have to wife this Rosalind?’”

Kevin almost forgot to say his line. He was busy watching the two of them.

They finished going through the scene and Reggie checked his watch. “Crap, I’m late for football.”

“Same time tomorrow?” Cheryl asked. Reggie nodded and walked out of the room.

“I’m gonna go,” Kevin motioned to the door awkwardly.

“You’re going to go and watch the practice aren’t you?”

Kevin nodded and then followed Reggie out of the room. Cheryl looked at Toni who gave her a small smile. Toni took off her jacket and began to move the desks back to where they belonged. Cheryl watched her. More specifically, she watched her arms. The way her toned muscles flexed as she picked up each desk. Cheryl quickly shook her head and moved to help put the desks back.

“You don’t have to,” Toni said, glancing over at her. “I’m fine doing it if you want to go too.”

“I don’t mind.” Cheryl said and continued to help move the desks.

“You’re good at this.” Toni finally said, breaking the silence.

“I was born for the stage.” She shrugged. They were facing each other.

“And it loves you.” Toni smirked a little but quickly followed it with a genuine smile. Cheryl smiled back. “I meant the directing part though.” Toni picked up another chair. “Obviously you are good at telling people what to do.” Cheryl chuckled. “But you’re paying attention to the details.” Toni leaned against one of the desks. “You’re not just telling us what to do, you’re genuinely helping us to make this scene good.”

“I don’t want you messing up my GPA.” Cheryl shrugged. She put a desk back next to the one Toni was beside. She mimicked Toni so that she was leaning against the desk across from her, maybe a foot or so between them. “It’s fun.” She said in a more genuine voice.

“Bossing us around?” Toni joked.

“No. Creating a scene. To be fair I’ve been pretty sick of Shakespeare but actually getting to act it out,” she paused. “I can see why you like the plays. I mean he recycles plot and characters but he doesn’t give many directions, which really lets other people interpret it the way that they want.

“I mean take your part,” Cheryl motioned at Toni and her voice picked up some speed. “People can interpret Celia in so many different ways. She could just be a loyal sidekick, going along with Rosalind’s craziness; or she could be resentful of Rosalind.”

“She did leave a life in a palace to go and live in the woods with a girl who becomes fairly crazy.”

“Exactly! So it makes sense that at a certain point she starts loosing her patience. And especially in this scene, Rosalind is actually kind of insane in it, it makes sense for Celia to be frustrated or annoyed.”

“Or snarky?” Toni offered.

“I just figured you’d be good at that already.”

“That’s fair.”

“Here, let’s try the bit at the end again. Really go for it with the snark, don’t hold back. Just say the lines as if you were actually talking to me.”

“‘You have simply misus’d our sex in your love-prate. We must have your doublet and hose the bird hath done to her own nest.’”

“‘O coz, coz, coz, my pretty little coz,’” Cheryl put her hand on Toni’s arm. Toni felt her mind go blank. “‘that thou didst know how many fathom deep I am in love! But it cannot be sounded; my affection hath an unknown bottom, like the bay of Portugal.’”

“‘Or rather, bottomless – that as fast as you pour affection in,’” she tilted her head and did her best to give a mock sympathetic voice. “‘it runs out.’”

“Good.” Cheryl moved her hand back. “Just don’t worry about the characters, talk to me like you’re talking to me and you’ll be great.”

“Yeah, I’ll just do that.” Toni said, trying to keep her voice neutral. They looked at each other for a while but didn’t say anything. It wasn’t awkward. Toni’s phone vibrated loudly against one of the desks, causing both of them to look at it. Toni moved over and saw it was a text from Sweet Pea. _Ghoulies at Pop’s_. “Crap, I need to go.” She moved to pick up her bag. “Thanks for,” she paused “everything.”

“No problem.” Cheryl said and watched as Toni left.

“Oh.” Toni popped her head back in the doorway, Cheryl looked excited for a moment. “You should probably stay clear of Pop’s for a little.” She said and then walked away.

Cheryl covered her face with her hands and took a deep breath. So much for her plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tumblr: gay-asa-window  
> twitter: shaw_dog21


	9. Chapter 9

Cheryl stood in the living room of Thistlehouse, looking out the window when she heard Penelope walking towards the front door. “Still at it Mother?” She said without bothering to look at her mother. Penelope stopped and turned to face her daughter. “I thought you’d be tired of taking filthy wads of cash from strangers by now.”

“You have no right to judge me,” Penelope said angrily, moving towards her daughter. Cheryl moved towards her mother as well, struck by a sense of confidence. “Not when you drove away the one decent chance I had at a better life.”

“You mean with Hal Cooper?” Cheryl didn’t bother to hide her scoff. “If that’s your idea of love.” She added, as she moved to walk past her mother.

“What would you know about it?” Penelope grabbed Cheryl’s arm, stopping her and causing her to turn around again so they were facing each other. “You’ve never known love, Cheryl, except to rip it apart.” Cheryl looked up from her mother’s hand to her face, the way her eyes were cold and empty. “Because you are a jealous,” Neither broke the eye contact, less than a foot apart. “spite-filled, starving, emotional anorexic.” Cheryl was using all her strength not to cry, not to break the eye contact with her mother. “Have a nice day at school dear.” Penelope moved her hand and ran her finger along Cheryl’s chin, flicking it upwards. Then she walked past her daughter, bumping her as she left.

 

Cheryl sat at her new English desk, genuinely looking forward to working on their project. The group work would hopefully provide a good distraction from her mother’s words from the morning. And their scene was coming along nicely, definitely better than anyone else in the class. The guys were doing great, even Reggie, and Toni was really embracing the character. As much as Cheryl wanted to avoid her, she actually was liking Toni and it was becoming harder and harder to avoid her. The previous night she had spent at least an hour listening to Hayley Kiyoko and her mind kept wandering back to Toni.

Reggie and Kevin sat down not long after Cheryl did. Kevin instantly started talking to Cheryl about various stage directions. “Do we want Rosalind to get physically aggressive with-” Kevin’s voice faded out as he looked towards the door.

Cheryl and Reggie looked where Kevin was looking and saw Toni walking over to the cluster of desks. The area around her right eye was bruised. They all just watched her as she sat down in her seat, a little more carefully than normal.

“Hey guys,” she said casually.

“Are we not going to talk about,” Kevin started. The bell rang and Mrs. Watson started to talk to the class.

After Mrs. Watson talked for a couple of minutes the class started to move to work on their scenes. The four of them walked to the spare classroom silently. Kevin and Reggie kept glancing at Toni.

Toni closed the door behind them, turned and saw everyone staring at her. “You can quit staring at me. I’m in a gang, black eyes and bruises come with the territory.”

Kevin and Reggie quickly looked away and started to move a couple of the desks. Cheryl moved closer to her. “Did you ice it?” She asked. She wanted to touch Toni’s face to get a better look at it.

“Of course. I’ve been taking care of this stuff my whole life.” Toni paused. “Do either of you have any questions?”

“Nope.” Kevin and Reggie said instantly.

“Ready to start the scene?” Kevin asked.

“Yes,” Toni said quickly and moved over to where her starting point was.

They worked for the rest of the class period and an hour long after school rehearsal and no one said anything else relating to Toni’s black eye or any other potential injuries that she had. Reggie left to go to practice and Kevin left soon after, leaving Toni and Cheryl to put the room back together.

“You get hurt a lot?” Cheryl asked a little nervously.

“Not a lot. I’m usually the one taking care of the guys who do stupid stuff without thinking.” Toni rolled her eyes.

“Any particular reason you did something stupid without thinking?”

“Some Ghoulies were causing some problems at Pop’s, didn’t want to lose the best place to get a milkshake.”

“Wait,” Cheryl said pausing, thinking about yesterday. “Is that why you told me to stay away from Pop’s for a little?” Toni nodded. “It’s almost like you care about me.”

“I just didn’t want you getting in the way.” Toni said and walked by her, putting a desk down.

“That wasn’t a regular punch.”

“What?” Toni turned and looked at her.

“A normal punch wouldn’t leave a mark like that.” Cheryl gestured at Toni’s face.

“How do you know so much about punching?” Toni asked without thinking. Cheryl’s face fell a little. “Brass knuckles,” Toni said quickly. “Hurts like a bitch.”

“Ah, sorry,” Cheryl said. “I can imagine.” They were looking at each other, only a foot or so apart. “Why didn’t you cover it up? You have to know how to hide things like bruises.”

“I do, and I used to, but then I stopped. And at Southside High, showing up with bruises wasn’t out of the ordinary. So it wasn’t a big deal.”

“But you don’t get hurt that much?”

“Not as much as the others. Probably more than the average person though. Remember the whole gang thing.”

“Right,” Cheryl said. “Why did you join the Serpents?”

“It’s in my blood. My grandfather was one of the founders of the Serpents. Plus they were my family. My mother died when I was a baby and my father left when I was pretty young so the Serpents helped take care of me. It’s nice having this group of people that will always have your back.”

“Hmm,” Cheryl nodded.

“Did you think it was for easy access to drugs and booze?”

“I guess I never thought about it.”

“We’re not all just filthy miscreants.”

Cheryl moved a little awkwardly. “My mother always described the Serpents as the scum of the Earth.” She paused. “Of course my mother also defended my ancestor who hired General Pickens.”

“That does put things into perspective. So what do _you_ think of the Serpents?” Toni moved closer to her, they were a couple of feet apart.

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I haven’t really interacted with many of them. I guess you’re alright.”

“Thanks,” Toni said sarcastically.

“But I guess my only other interaction with them relates to my brother’s death.”

“Oh.” Toni’s face fell. “Look I’m sorry about the whole Bughead thing.” Cheryl snorted a little at the mention of ‘Bughead’. “I didn’t really think and just reacted.”

“But why?”

“I don’t know.” Toni shrugged. “It just,” her voice started out slow. “seems like you were just being used and they didn’t really care how it impacted you. It didn’t seem fair and I don’t know, I guess I just wanted to protect you. Which is weird because we don’t really know each other and clearly you don’t need my protection.”

“Yeah,” Cheryl said quietly. “Betty did apologize so I guess it wasn’t the worst thing in the world that you yelled at her.” Toni smiled a little. “And judging by the marks on your knuckles, it looks like you can throw punches pretty well too so I’m especially happy that you didn’t punch Betty.”

“Really?”

“Well fighting probably would have looked like ‘gang-related activity’ and then you probably would have been suspended and then I wouldn’t have my Celia.”

“Is that a long-winded way of saying you care about what happens to me?”

“Maybe a little.” Cheryl smiled a little coyly.

Toni smiled, she still wasn’t over Cheryl’s genuine smile. It was beautiful. “Any big weekend plans for the Bombshell?”

Cheryl rolled her eyes a little but kept her genuine smile. “You’re not going to drop that are you?”

“Not a chance, Bombshell.” Toni gave her a small wink. She wanted to just look at Cheryl forever.

“We should probably go, I think they’ll want to lock up soon.” Cheryl said breaking the silence that had formed. “I’ll uh, I’ll see you Monday.”

“Yeah, see you then,” Toni said but neither moved. They continued to stare at each other until the door opened. Sure enough, it was the custodian coming to clean up. They both grabbed their bags and walked out the door towards the parking lot. “I’ll see you around Blossom,” Toni said and walked over to her motorcycle.

“Bye,” Cheryl said quietly. She watched Toni drive away before she got into her own car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel really bad I missed the chapter update yesterday, moving has been fairly complicated, and also I don't have reliable internet yet. Chapters should be up this Monday/Thursday I'll be on vacation but I'll have internet. I'm really hoping that vacation helps clear my mind bc I have been slowing down on my writing of this fic. I'm still really far ahead of what I'm posting, but I haven't been writing too much. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I'm loving all of the comments and feedback. It really does mean the world to me and gives me more drive to write.
> 
> twitter: shaw_dog21  
> tumblr: gay-asa-window


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel so bad about the lack of updates. I have not had internet for a while which has really sucked. But my xfinity hotspot is working again and then I should have my actual wifi working this week. So, updates should be back to normal which is good because I've really missed this fic. Anyways, I hope that you enjoy the chapter!! And thank you so much for your patience. <3

Cheryl looked out the window as a car pulled up to Thistlehouse. Penelope walked out of the house and towards the man who was getting out of his car. She greeted him, kissing his cheek as she hugged him. They walked towards the house, her wrapped around his arm. Cheryl sighed a little, not wanting to be trapped in the house with her mother and her mother’s often-eager clients.

 

The guy at the concession table passed Cheryl a bottle of soda. She began to take it when she heard a familiar voice. “Let me guess… some cherry cola for Cheryl Bombshell.” Toni joked walking over to her.

Cheryl turned to look at her, rolling her eyes. “You keep stalking me.” Her voice had some anger in it.

“I’m not,” Toni said defensively, slightly taken aback by the change in Cheryl’s tone with her. “I came to see this movie with Fangs and he bailed on me.” Cheryl looked away, sighing a little and then looked at the ground. Toni moved closer to her. “Are you okay?”

Cheryl looked around before looking back at Toni, moving closer to her. “I’m alone at the movies and I’m trying to stay away from my mother who has turned our house into her sexual playpen.” Toni didn’t know how to respond as Cheryl nodded her head. “So no, I’m really not.”

“Well, I was gonna go grab a seat alone, unless you want some company.” Toni noticed the smile creeping onto Cheryl’s face. “But no pressure.”

Cheryl tilted her head a little and then picked up her soda. She began to smile for real and then took a sip of her drink, to try and hide it. She followed Toni towards the theatre.

 

Toni watched Cheryl play with her milkshake. “Now you may think you’ve mastered the art of silent tears,” Toni started and Cheryl looked over at her. “But I saw you crying at that movie, Cheryl.” Toni smiled at her.

“I never cry at movies. Real life’s tragic enough.” Cheryl paused for a second. “But when Simon’s mom said he used to be such a carefree kid,” Cheryl’s voice broke a little as she continued. “growing up, and then at a certain point, he stopped being that happy kid because he was hiding a secret, it just,” she was trying really hard not to cry.

“Cheryl,” Toni started.

“Everyone thinks I’m this loveless monster,” Cheryl started to break, getting closer and closer to crying, she paused to try and stop herself. “But it isn’t true.” She paused again. “I loved someone, who loved me. And my mother destroyed it.”

“You mean your brother Jason? I heard how close you guys were.”

“No, not Jay-Jay.” Cheryl paused, part of her wanted to stop the words that she knew were about to come next. But she didn’t. “Her name was Heather.” She glanced over at Toni, terrified of how she was going to react. Toni just continued to look at Cheryl.

“She was my best friend in junior high.” Cheryl continued, she didn’t care that tears were running down her face. “She used to sleep over every weekend. Until one night, my mother caught us in the same bed.” Her voice was breaking again, but she didn’t stop. “She said I was ‘deviant’.”

“Cheryl, I am so sorry. But you have to know your mother’s wrong.” She looked at Cheryl, hoping that Cheryl would really hear the words she was saying. “You’re not loveless. You’re not deviant. Okay?” Toni reached out to put her hand on Cheryl’s. Cheryl looked at her, surprised by the contact. “You’re sensational.” Toni gave her a reassuring smile. They sat like that for a little.

“You know my father left when I was about six,” Toni said. They continued to look at each other. “He took me to my uncle’s one day, dropped me off and then never came back to pick me up. That night, my uncle got tired of me and waiting for my dad so he took me back to my trailer. Dropped me off and left without waiting to see what had happened. Dad was gone, most of his stuff was gone too.” Cheryl put her other hand on top of Toni’s. “I didn’t know what to do so I just lived by myself for a while and waited for him to come back. But he didn’t. Never did.”

“That’s the last time you saw your father?” Cheryl asked. Toni nodded. “That’s horrible. He left? Just like that?”

“Just like that,” Toni repeated. “But you know it was weird. I missed someone being there, but I never missed _him_.” Toni shook her head. “My father drank and when he drank, he got angry. It was just the two of us so it was often directed at me. I would try to stay clear of him but trailers are small and little kids have a lot of energy. He really liked to shout and yell. He uh, would hold my arms or shoulders tightly and shake me as he yelled at me.”

“Oh my God,” Cheryl said quietly.

“I never fought him back, I would let him get his anger out.”

“You were a kid, how could you have fought him back?”

“I just always felt like I should have done something.”

“You did, you survived it.” Cheryl paused. “Why are you telling me this?”

Toni paused and stirred her milkshake a little with her free hand. “I’m guessing you haven’t told many people about Heather?” She glanced over at Cheryl who shook her head. “I know we barely know each other, but it seems like you’re keeping a lot in and I want you to know that you can talk to me if you want to. I’ve really liked spending time with you the past couple of days.”

“I’ve been pretty horrible to you.”

“Yeah.” Toni agreed. “But I knew that you didn’t really mean it, at least not at me.”

“I’m still sorry.”

“Thank you,” Toni said. They continued to sit there, holding each other’s hands.

“Thank you.”

“What for?”

“Being stupid and fighting Ghoulies to keep Pop’s safe.” Toni let out a chuckle and Cheryl smiled. “But,” Cheryl said slowly. “Might be kind of nice if you weren’t stupid.” Toni tilted her head, questioningly. Cheryl shifted a little in her seat. “I guess I don’t really like seeing you hurt.”

Toni felt her face get a little warm. She wanted to pull her hand away or at least hide her face. But she didn’t. She didn’t want this moment to end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can we talk about those Choni cut scenes?? Because I'm still crying over how precious they were. 
> 
> Hit me up on social.  
> Twitter - shaw_dog21  
> Tumblr: gay-asa-window


	11. Chapter 11

It wasn’t long after Cheryl got home from Pop’s before she was on Instagram looking to see if Toni had an account. She figured miss badass gang member would be too cool and edgy to have an Instagram. She wasn’t. In fact, Toni’s account was mostly filled with what looked like artsy photos taken on an actual camera. Many were of nature; Cheryl recognized a couple from Sweetwater River. Cheryl was impressed they were really good. There were also some of Toni and the guys that she always seemed to be around.

Cheryl looked at the photos of them, Toni looked genuinely happy. There was a picture of her and the really tall guy, Cheryl couldn’t remember his name, she felt like it had a vegetable in it. Their arms were around each other and they were looking at each other more than the camera. They were both smiling so genuinely as if one of them had told a joke.

Cheryl felt her heart hurt a little. She didn’t have anyone like that anymore. The only person she had ever felt that genuine with was Jason. With Jason, she could be herself, well the closest version of herself. No matter what was happening with their parents, Jason could always make Cheryl smile. Smile for real. She wanted to feel like that again, she wanted to have someone that she could be at ease with.

Talking to people was exhausting. And it wasn’t just because everyone else in this town was significantly less intelligent than she was. It was that she couldn’t be herself with anyone. She knew being someone else around everyone was exhausting, but she couldn’t stop. She didn’t want to stop. Being someone else prevents anyone from finding out just how weak she was.

She looked at another picture of Toni and looked closer at her. She had told her too much. Toni was getting too close. For all she knew, Toni was just collecting all of this information about Cheryl to spread around the school. She had probably been at the top at her school and figured trashing Cheryl would be the best way to get on top at Riverdale.

 

Toni was excited for Monday, her conversation with Cheryl at Pop’s had been great. It had been intense and emotional but she felt like they had genuinely bonded. Cheryl was slowly letting down her guard and she was incredible. Toni wanted to see more of it but knew that it would be a slow process to get Cheryl to open up more.

Their rehearsal during English class went well. They all had their lines memorized and the scene was flowing smoothly. Cheryl barely had to tell Reggie what to do. But she kept her distance from Toni.

Toni wasn’t expecting them to be holding hands or anything but she figured that they were past this awkward silence. The after-school rehearsal went along the same lines. Cheryl talked to Toni really only when she needed to.

Rehearsal ended and the guys left to go to practice and Toni began to move the desks back. “I’ll see you tomorrow Toni,” Cheryl said, gathering up her bag.

“Whoa, you’re not going to help me?” Toni moved towards Cheryl.

“You’re strong, I’m sure you can handle it.”

Toni looked at her. Cheryl was talking to her like she talked to anyone else. The façade was obvious. “I can get why you barely interacted with me before when the guys were here. But it’s just the two of us now.”

Cheryl put her bag down on a desk and moved a little closer to Toni. “What do you think, we had one emotional conversation and you assume we’re friends?”

“Yes,” Toni said.

Cheryl paused, surprised by Toni’s answer. “We’re not friends,” Cheryl said taking another step closer to Toni. They were looking right at each other. “I don’t know what game you’re playing, but I don’t need it. I have enough going on.”

“Game?”

“I know what you’re doing. This nice girl under badass gang member act is obvious. We’re working on a scene together I know you can’t act. You got plenty of juicy tidbits the other night, do what you want with that and let me move on with my life.”

“Wait, you think I’m going to tell people what you told me? Cheryl, I would never-”

“Stop acting like we’re friends.” Cheryl interrupted. Her hands were by her face.

“You push people away,” Toni said, not flinching. “You don’t let anyone get close by keeping everyone at arms distance. And you push them away if you feel like they get too close. People only take so much pushing before they leave. And I’m guessing other people didn’t put up with much and left pretty quickly.”

“I appreciate your take away from some high school introduction to psychology class but I don’t care.” Cheryl paused. “Here is what is going to happen: we’re going to do our rehearsals and then perform our scene on Wednesday and that’s it. We’ll go back to living our very different lives and life will return to as close to normal as possible.” Cheryl smiled and clasped her hands together. “So this is effectively goodbye.”

“Then why are you still here?” Toni countered.

“What?”

“You could have left and avoided this entire conversation. I’ve seen you do it when you talk to Archie or the others. You make your comment and then leave before you can really engage. But instead you stayed here and talked to me because on some level, you care about what I think.”

Cheryl didn’t know how to respond. She paused. “You’re not going anywhere are you?” She asked angrily.

“No.”

“And you really weren’t planning on telling anyone what I told you at Pop’s?” Her voice softened a little.

“Not a soul.” They were still looking into each other’s eyes, neither daring to look away.

“I still don’t know why you’re being so nice to me. Most people would have left a long time ago, the way I’ve treated you.”

“I’m not most people.” Toni paused. “I don’t know what it is, I can’t explain it but there is something about you that I like and I see that you’re hurting.” Cheryl’s face softened even more. “And even though you’ve been fairly terrible to me, I get where it’s coming from and I just don’t like to see you hurting. I’m sure you think that I’m crazy or some stalker because we barely know each other. But I don’t know,” her voice trailed off. “I really like talking to you, and when you’re walls are down, even just a little, I have a great time hanging out with you. I don’t need your walls all the way down. I don’t expect them to be down that far because you’re right, we don’t know each other that well. But I want you to know I like what I do see. I meant everything I said at Pop’s.”

Cheryl could feel herself close to crying. She needed to stop doing that around Toni. She sounded genuine now, but she had no idea what was really behind the walls that Cheryl had spent her entire life building.

“So,” Toni said breaking the silence that had formed. “If you want to stick to your plan, then fine. We will finish the scene and we can live our separate lives.” Cheryl didn’t say anything and Toni nodded. “Fine.” She said quietly and started to move away.

“I don’t want that,” Cheryl said quietly as Toni was passed her. Toni stopped walking and turned to look at Cheryl, who had turned a little. “I like spending time with you too.”

“So you’re going to treat me like an actual human?”

“I’ll treat you like a friend.”

“So,” Toni said slowly.

“We’re friends.” Cheryl concedes.

“We should probably put the room back together before the custodian comes and bitches at us.” Toni said and then started to put the desks back again. Toni looked back at Cheryl and smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I've been super shitty about updating, there's been a lot going on, but hopefully, I'll be back to my normal schedule soon. Thank you so much to everyone that's been reading and enjoying, your comments mean the world to me.


	12. Chapter 12

Wednesday came and with it the day of the performance. Toni was nervous, it was easy to do the scene when it was just the four of them, but in front of the whole class would be a different story. It didn’t help that now that her and Cheryl were officially friends, she had started to crush on the girl.

She wasn’t too surprised that she was crushing on Cheryl. Cheryl was beautiful, and she had definitely been into her before. But now that they had broken through that first barrier, and she was actually seeing Cheryl, she was definitely crushing on the girl. The problem with that was she was putting on a scene where she had to hate her, which had become significantly more difficult with the crush.

Yesterday in their rehearsal, Toni had forgotten her line when Cheryl had grabbed her hand to pull her over. At the end of the scene, it was just the two of them talking and Toni had to remind herself to look annoyed at Cheryl and not as if she could listen to her talk forever.

So Toni was nervous for the performance. They sat in the auditorium watching one of the other groups performing one of the earlier scenes. Cheryl noticed Toni shaking her leg a little and moved her hand to Toni’s leg. Toni’s leg became still instantly. “Just breathe.” Cheryl whispered quietly. Her hand found Toni’s and she took it. “You’ll be great.” She glanced over at Toni and smiled at her. Toni gave a small smile back.

Their performance went great, almost perfectly. It was easily the best of the class. They were the only ones who had it completely off book and didn’t need to ask for any lines. Not to mention they had the best scene flow.

Class ended and Kevin leaned over. “We should go to Pop’s after school for celebratory milkshakes.”

“Sounds good.” Toni shrugged.

“Definitely.” Cheryl said. “Reginald?”

“I have practice. Big game on Friday.” Reggie said.

 

Kevin followed the two girls into Pop’s after school. He hadn’t missed the changes in their relationship over the past week or so. Some days, they seemed really close; the next Cheryl wouldn’t look at Toni. Yesterday, they had gotten along great. But today Toni had kept her distance from Cheryl a little. He figured that was just her dealing with nerves, she had been shaking a bit while they were waiting to go on. With all the back and forth between the two girls, Kevin figured he’d let them set the pace for Pop’s and he’d just follow suit.

Cheryl slid into one side of the booth and Toni paused for a second, unsure of where to sit. She slid into the seat across from Cheryl. Kevin slid in next to Toni.

“You guys did great.” Kevin said after they placed their orders.

“Obviously,” Cheryl shrugged.

“The stage loves her.” Toni said and they all laughed.

“I still can’t believe you said that.” Kevin said.

“She introduced herself to me as ‘Cheryl Bombshell’ so I don’t think anything will top that.”

Kevin looked at Cheryl, whose face had turned a little red. Luckily for Cheryl, Pop brought over their milkshakes.

“Why aren’t you watching the footballers practice?” Cheryl asked Kevin.

“Needed a break.”

“Couldn’t have taken a break to help put the room back to normal?”

“You are strong independent women, you didn’t need me.”

“Wow,” Toni started. She was resting her chin on her hand so she could look at Kevin. “Even gay men are tools.”

“It’s true.” He paused. “Besides, I would have just gotten in the way of your bonding.”

“Our bonding?” Toni and Cheryl asked at the same time.

“When we were assigned the project, you wouldn’t look at Toni.” Kevin pointed at Cheryl. “Now you two are spending time together outside of school.” Toni and Cheryl looked at each other. “I’d like to think that me not helping to clean up led to the start of a beautiful friendship.”

“Okay Kamaro.” Cheryl said sarcastically. Toni laughed a little and Cheryl glanced over at her. Their eyes met and Cheryl smiled.

“So does this mean that the Northside/Southside rivalry is over?” They looked at him. “C’mon Cheryl Blossom being friends with a Serpent? That’s a big deal.”

“Not all of us are as obsessed with labels as you are Keller.” Cheryl responded, taking the cherry off of her milkshake and eating it. Toni didn’t say anything; she didn’t want to do anything that could potentially make Cheryl uncomfortable in front of Kevin. “I guess the Southside isn’t the worst thing in the world, but I think the divide goes a little beyond the two of us.”

It looked Kevin was going to continue the conversation so Toni quickly changed the subject. “So I hear you are directing the musical.”

“Yes!” Kevin said excitedly. “And you two have to try out.” He paused; feeling the look Cheryl was giving him. “You’ll be in it Cheryl, trying out is just a formality.” Cheryl still crossed her arms across her chest. Toni watched this, trying to keep a straight face. Cheryl’s pout was pretty adorable. “Toni do you sing?”

“Sorry?” Toni asked looking back at Kevin.

“Do you sing?”

“A little.” She shrugged. “Musical theatre isn’t a big pastime in the trailer park.”

“Well I hope you try out.”

“You should try out TT.” Cheryl said.

Toni paused for a second at the new nickname. “I- I will.” She stammered a little.

They were looking at each other again, as if Kevin wasn’t there. Kevin noticed this and looked around the diner. Luckily he saw Jughead sitting on the other side of the diner. “I uh-” Kevin started and they both looked at him. “I need to go talk to Jughead. But awesome job on the scene ladies.” He said and got up to give the girls some privacy.

Toni watched him leave and her eyes landed on Jughead. Cheryl watched her. “Can I ask you something?” Cheryl asked cautiously.

“Sure.” Toni looked back at Cheryl.

“You and Jughead. You guys seemed close.”

“One night. We kissed, did a little bit more and then I slept over.” Toni said a little awkwardly. “But we didn’t,” she quickly added.

“Oh.” Cheryl said as neutrally as possible.

“It was more platonic than anything. I’m not into him like that.”

“It’s okay if you were, except he has a girlfriend again.” Cheryl was trying to sound casual.

Toni shrugged. “I like girls better.” She watched Cheryl for her reaction.

“Oh.” Cheryl shifted in her seat a little. It’s not like it was a secret that Toni liked girls, but to hear her say it was incredible. She wanted to do something, but she didn’t know what. It didn’t help that they were in a public place. And she was still a little on edge from the last time they were at Pop’s and had held hands.

Toni sensed this and moved forward in the booth. She gave Cheryl a reassuring smile. Cheryl reached out and took Toni’s hand for a moment before letting go again. “I bet you’re glad to be done with Shakespeare.” Toni said.

“He grew on me.” Cheryl said smiling.

Toni glanced down at their hands, only an inch or so apart, and smiled back.


	13. Chapter 13

School the next day was weird. Now that their group projects were over, the desks in their English classroom were back to being in rows. Toni wasn’t sure what Cheryl’s comfort level was so she tried her best to act normal around her. They smiled at each other at class and when they passed each other in the hallway but that was it.

Lunch came and Toni reluctantly sat with the other Serpents. She wanted to sit with Cheryl but figured that was something she should ask her when it was just the two of them. She knew there was no chance that Cheryl would sit with the serpents, so she had to hope that there would be some reason that they needed to talk.

Toni looked around the mostly full cafeteria. Cheryl wasn’t at her normal table, she wasn’t with the River Vixens, and she wasn’t with the others that she sometimes sat with.

“Who are you looking for?” Sweet Pea asked.

“Nothing, no one,” Toni said quickly.

“Figured you were looking for your new friend.” Toni tilted her head. “Cheryl.” Sweet Pea said as if it was the most obvious thing.

“Oh,” her voice fell.

“You guys have been hanging out, right?”

“Just for that project. We’re not-” Sweet Pea cleared his throat and looked at Toni and then gestured his head to the side a little. Toni turned and saw Cheryl was standing not too far from them. “Hey,” Toni said surprised.

“I just,” Cheryl started but her voice trailed.

“Would you like to sit?” Toni gestured to the empty space next to her.

“No, I was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute.”

“Sure,” Toni said and stood up. She followed Cheryl, making sure to give Sweet Pea a shove as she left. They walked in silence towards the Swords and Serpents room. Toni wasn’t sure what to expect. Every fiber of her being wanted to kiss Cheryl. But she knew that if she was going to do this, she had to take things really slow with Cheryl. And kissing Cheryl at school in the middle of the day was not slow. Cheryl closed the door and Toni wanted to do something, anything to show her feelings.

“What are you doing this weekend?” Cheryl asked.

“Uh, nothing,” Toni said. Was Cheryl Blossom about to ask her out? Toni prepared herself for Cheryl’s follow up question.

“They uncovered Daddy’s secret will and want to do a public reading of it.” Cheryl rolled her eyes a little. She missed Toni’s look of surprise. She was getting used to the changes in Cheryl’s attitudes. “I was wondering if you could come.”

“Yeah, totally,” Toni said instantly. She looked around, they were deep enough in the room that a passerby wouldn’t see them through the door window and the blinds were all closed. Toni tentatively put her hand on Cheryl’s arm. Cheryl relaxed into the touch and Toni held her a little tighter. “I can’t imagine what you’re feeling. I will be there in whatever capacity you need me to be there.” Toni hoped she wasn’t overstepping any.

“Emotional support?” Cheryl asked hopefully.

“Of course.” Toni moved closer to Cheryl. “I will be by your side the entire time. Unless you need some space, just let me know and I’ll give you space.”

Cheryl hugged Toni before Toni could say anything else. Toni hugged her back and rubbed her back a little. “Thank you,” Cheryl said quietly in Toni’s ear.

Toni tried to remain calm as Cheryl’s breath hit her ear. “Of course.”

After a little, Cheryl pulled away. “You should probably get back, you’re friends will probably wonder where you’ve gone.”

“Right,” Toni said. She already missed the contact but knew it was as much as she would get for the time being. Toni started to walk towards the door but realized that Cheryl wasn’t following her. She turned a little to look at Cheryl. “You’re not coming?”

“I’m not really hungry.” Cheryl shrugged.

“Do you want me to stay?”

“No, go eat with your friends. I’ll see you later.”

Toni started to move towards the door. She paused and then moved to the teacher’s desk and found a piece of paper and a pen. She scribbled her number on the piece of paper and then walked back to Cheryl. “This is my phone number. Feel free to text me or call me if you need anything.” She handed Cheryl the piece of paper.

“Thanks.”

“I mean it, you’re not bothering me if you call me.” Toni squeezed Cheryl’s hand reassuringly and then walked out of the room. Cheryl watched Toni walk out of the room and then held the piece of paper close to her heart.

“What happened to you?” Fangs asked as Toni sat back down in the cafeteria.

“Nothing, Cheryl just had a couple of questions about English,” Toni said as casually as possible.

“And she asked you?”

“Very funny.”

“You didn’t hear that Tiny’s BFFs with the Queen Bee herself?” Sweet Pea cut in.

Toni glared at him. She considered elbowing him but figured that would draw too much attention. “We’re friendly but that’s it.”

“You’re so in there.” This time Toni did elbow him in the gut. “Ow,” Sweet Pea groaned. Toni just rolled her eyes. “Why are you so touchy about this?”

“I’m not,” Toni said but realized she didn’t sound that convincing.

“Tiny has a crush,” Sweet Pea said in a slight singsong voice.

Fangs started to laugh. “C’mon when does Toni have a crush?”

“Exactly.” Toni gestured towards Fangs. “I don’t get crushes.”

“Wouldn’t it be hilarious though, Tiny and Red?” Sweet Pea said.

“What kind of girlfriend do you think Toni would be?” Fangs asked Sweet Pea as if Toni wasn’t sitting right there.

“Tiny as a girlfriend, that alone is great.”

“I am sitting right here,” Toni said.

Sweet Pea and Fangs waved their hands a little, brushing off Toni. “She’ll be whipped.” Sweet Pea said.

“What?” Toni scoffed. “Please, I don’t get crushes, I don’t do relationships, and I sure as hell will never be whipped.”

“Those are some pretty definite statements.” Sweet Pea paused. “But we will have to wait and see.” Toni glared at him and shook her head. After a minute or so, Sweet Pea started to talk to Fangs about football.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will I get back into a normal posting routine ever? I don't know. Hopefully, I will. I love hearing your feedback and comments and I'm so glad that you are enjoying this fic and putting up with my horrible posting. Thank you so much!!


	14. Chapter 14

Thistlehouse was by far the biggest house that Toni had ever seen, let alone been in. Cheryl let her in through the back door. Toni didn’t question it; she figured it had to do with her mother. Cheryl hadn’t said much about her mother, but between the few stories she had told and the marks on her wrists, it wasn’t hard for Toni to connect the dots.

“That’s what you’re wearing?” Cheryl asked as soon as she opened the door.

“Something wrong with this?” Toni glanced down at her outfit. She was wearing a black sleeveless shirt that ended mid-stomach, a short maroon skirt with tights, black heels, and a black choker. Toni had no idea what people wore to a will-reading and she didn’t have that much nicer clothes to begin with.

Cheryl didn’t respond but grabbed Toni’s hand and led her into the house. She dropped Toni’s hand quickly. Toni followed her wordlessly through the house. She looked around the house, intrigued. It was huge, filled with fancy and expensive looking furniture. But it didn’t seem home-like at all. It didn’t seem like people actually lived here. She knew that the Blossom’s had another house that had burned down, but she doubted that that house felt anymore homey. Sweet Pea’s trailer felt more like a home than this house did.

They reached Cheryl’s bedroom and Cheryl pointed to the bench at the foot of her bed. “Wait there.”

Toni sat down and lounged a little as Cheryl walked into her closet and began to look through her clothes.

“Cheryl, I agreed to come to this will-reading but I didn’t agree to a makeover.” Cheryl turned to face her, smiling knowingly, holding a shirt out on display. “Unless it involves that blouse.” She said.

“Nice, right,” Cheryl said walking back into the room. Toni stood up and moved towards her a little. “For the record, j’adore your flannel mesh aesthetic.” Cheryl looked Toni up and down. They were maybe a foot or so apart. Toni started to play with the shirt a little as Cheryl moved even closer. “I’m merely,” Cheryl’s voice became a little lower, raspier. “Augmenting it for the occasion.”

Toni’s heart was pounding a little, all she wanted to do in that moment was kiss Cheryl. But before she could do anything the door slammed open. “What is going on in here, Cheryl?” Penelope stormed into the room, glaring at Cheryl.

Toni could sense Cheryl’s uneasiness. “Mrs. Blossom, hi, I’m Toni Topaz.” She glanced at Cheryl who smiled at her, happy that she didn’t have to talk to her mother. “I’m a friend of Cheryl’s from school and she’s lending me an outfit for the will-reading.”

“And why on Earth would you be there?” Penelope looked from Cheryl to Toni.

“I invited her,” Toni looked at Cheryl, silently encouraging her to stand up to her mother. “To be my emotional support.”

Penelope looked at Toni for another moment before looking back at Cheryl. “Just make sure you’re downstairs before the guests start to arrive. We need to present a united front against those scavengers.” She gave Toni another dirty look before walking out of the room.

Toni watched her leave and waited until she was sure Penelope was out of earshot before groaning. “She’s a nightmare.” She looked at Cheryl who was watching the spot her mother had been.

Cheryl sighed a little. “Isn’t she though?” Cheryl looked back at Toni. “Here, put this on.” Cheryl handed Toni the shirt. “My bathroom is right through there,” Cheryl pointed to her bathroom.

Toni walked to the bathroom and changed her shirt. She looked at herself in the mirror. The shirt that Cheryl had given her was black mesh with roses on it. It was very see-through which Toni didn’t mind in the slightest. And clearly, Cheryl didn’t mind either. Cheryl’s not very subtle hints were making Toni reconsider the whole “going slow” thing but she was still nervous. She fixed her hair a little. She didn’t want to move slowly but she was also terrified of messing things up. There was something about Cheryl that made her want to take care of her, to make sure she was okay. She had never felt like this before and she wasn’t really sure how to deal with these feelings.

“You okay in there?” Cheryl knocked lightly on the door.

“Yeah!” Toni called back. She looked at her reflection for a second, fixed her hair one last time and then walked back into Cheryl’s room.

“Wow,” Cheryl said. “That blouse looks pretty incredible on you.” Cheryl touched the hem of the shirt.

“Thanks.” Toni felt her heart racing. “I may have to forget to give it back to you.”

“Well as long as you wear it around me, I won’t complain.” Cheryl bit her lip a little.

Toni tilted her head a little and took a deep breath. “We should probably go on down,” Toni gestured towards the door. “Don’t want your mother to get pissed off.”

“Let her sweat. She’s not going to unleash her full wrath with half of the town in our living room.”

Toni paused. “What about after everyone leaves?”

“That’s true,” Cheryl said a little deflated.

“Do you want to talk about her full wrath?”

“It’s nothing,” Cheryl waved her hand a little.

“If you’re sure.”

Cheryl looked around a little as if she was expecting someone to be listening in on their conversation. Her voice was barely above a whisper when she spoke again, she looked nervous. “Maybe we could go somewhere to talk afterwards? Maybe your place?”

Toni’s mind went blank. She didn’t really have a place she could take Cheryl back to. She quickly went through a list of places that she could potentially go with Cheryl and be left alone. “I think I know a place. We can go there afterwards and talk.”

“Thank you,” Cheryl said. She held Toni’s hand. “For everything, Toni.”

“Of course Cheryl.” Toni squeezed the other girl’s hand in her own.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It genuinely means so much to see you guys enjoying this. Back when I started this fic I just wrote crap tons and loved it. I need to get back to writing this bc we've almost caught up to what I had written. Anyways your comments mean the world to me and its great to see what you like.  
> Thank you so much!!

The will-reading ended quickly when a man walked into the living room during Cheryl’s speech, and Cheryl fainted to the ground. Penelope ushered everyone out as Toni rushed to Cheryl’s side.

“Cheryl?” Toni asked as she held the girl’s cheek. She ran her hand along her hair. “Cheryl?” Toni repeated. She wanted to shake her but didn’t want to make things worse.

“Get away from her,” Penelope shouted at Toni. Toni looked up and saw Penelope striding over towards them.

“She needs help, she needs a doctor.” Toni didn’t move from Cheryl’s side.

“It's just shock. This is a family matter.” Penelope was glaring down at her. Toni’s hand was still on Cheryl’s arm. “Go before I call the police.”

Toni glanced down at Cheryl. “Fine,” she reluctantly stood up. “But I’ll be back to check on her.” She said as she passed Penelope.

“I’m sure you will.” She sneered back.

Toni eyed the man for a second and then gave a smile to Nana Rose before leaving the house.

 

Toni sat at the table in Sweet Pea’s trailer, starring at her phone on the table. Her leg was shaking and she drummed her fingers on the table. Sweet Pea was standing across the table from her, drinking a soda, watching Toni.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“Yeah.” Toni didn’t look up at him.

“Does this have anything to do with Cheryl’s dad coming to his own will-reading and Cheryl passing out?” Toni looked up at him confused. “I overheard Betty telling Jughead about the reading. She seemed surprised that you were there, sitting right next to Cheryl.”

“Drop it Sweet Pea.”

“She’s your friend, you care about her.” He said defensively.

“I’m just worried about her, her mom isn’t really a gem.”

“So why are you here?” He leaned down on the table to get a better look at Toni.

“She kicked me out, threatened to call the cops. I’m worried about her, but I didn’t want to piss her mom off anymore. She didn’t seem that happy that I was at the reading to begin with.”

“I’m sure she’ll call you. From what I’ve heard, Cheryl Blossom can hold her own pretty well.”

“She shouldn’t have to.” Toni’s face fell.

Sweet Pea watched her for a moment. She pressed the lock button on her phone, hoping that she had a notification that she had somehow missed. But she didn’t. “Hey,” Sweet Pea said and Toni looked back up at him. “How about we go to Pop’s? Get some milkshakes, maybe burger, or at least fries? My treat.”

“I don’t really feel like it.”

“You need to do something Toni. You’re going to drive yourself insane if you just stare at your phone.”

“You’re right,” Toni sighed. “But I don’t really want to do anything either.”

Sweet Pea moved around the table and rubbed Toni’s back. “How about we go for a drive? Just blast music and go?”

“Fine. But I get to pick the music.” Toni said standing up.

“No way. I’m not listening to your garbage.”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know all the words.” Toni rolled her eyes but followed Sweet Pea towards the trailer door. Her phone rang and she instantly answered it, not even looking at the caller I.D. “Cheryl?” She asked.

“I can’t really talk,” Cheryl said on the other line, her voice barely audible. “I’m okay. I can explain everything tomorrow.”

“You sure you’re okay?”

“Yes. Can we go somewhere tomorrow, just me and you?”

“Of course. I know somewhere we can go.”

“I’ll need you to help me sneak out. I don’t think mother will let me leave anytime soon.”

“I’ll be there.”

“Thank you,” Cheryl said and then ended the call.

Toni put her phone back in her pocket and looked at Sweet Pea. “Still up for that drive?”

“Let’s go Tiny.” He said grabbing keys from the bowl beside the trailer door.

 

Toni walked up to the back door of Thistlehouse. Cheryl opened the door and walked out. “You okay?” Toni asked.

“Yeah, I’ll explain everything when we get out of here,” Cheryl said quietly.

“Cheryl!” Their eyes widened as they heard Penelope’s voice.

“Crap,” Cheryl murmured to Toni and then turned to face her mother.

“Where do you think you are going?”

“Just to Pop’s. We have school work to do.”

“After yesterday, you are in no condition to leave the house.”

“No, she’s fine,” Toni said, moving forward. “You said it yourself, it was just shock.”

“Exactly, so we’ll be going,” Cheryl said.

“No. Your Uncle Claudius is looking forward to getting to know you, for some reason, and expects you to be at dinner. So,” she looked at Toni. “You can leave now.”

Toni and Cheryl looked at each other. “She should stay for dinner.” They all looked to the corner of the room where Nana Rose was sitting.

“No,” Cheryl and Penelope said at the same time.

“This is a family only dinner,” Penelope said sternly.

“She must be important to Cheryl, she sat with her at the reading.”

“Fine.” Penelope huffed. “Just don’t be late.” She turned and walked out of the room.

Cheryl looked at Toni for a second. “Come with me,” she took Toni’s hand and led her to Nana Rose. “Nana, this is Antoinette Topaz. Toni, this is my Nana Rose.”

“Nice to meet you,” Toni held out her hand.

“Your hair, it’s pink,” Rose said taking Toni’s hand. “I like it.”

“Thank you.”

“We’ll be back for dinner,” Cheryl said and took Toni’s other hand. “Let’s go.”

Toni followed Cheryl out the back door and closed the door behind her. “Where are we going?” Toni asked quietly.

“There’s a place Jay-Jay and I would go when we wanted to be away from our parents. There we could talk about anything.” Cheryl led them through the trees to where there was a small clearing with a small wooden building. She opened the door and they went inside, most of the inside was taken up by old equipment. “This is one of the original sugar shacks for the Blossom Maple Farms.”

“Sugar shack?” Toni moved around the best she could, looking at the various pieces of equipment.

“It’s where they turn the sap into syrup.”

“I’m guessing you didn’t bring me here to teach me how to make maple syrup?” Toni moved back to Cheryl. There wasn’t a lot of space, so they were standing pretty close to one another.

“Thank you for coming yesterday. I hope mother wasn’t too harsh after I passed out.”

“I was just worried about you. Are you sure you’re okay?” Toni held Cheryl’s hands.

“Yes. Leave it to this family to have your father fake his own suicide only to show up at his own secret will-reading.”

“Is that what happened?” Toni asked, still a little confused.

“No but that’s what I thought and as mother said, shock took over and I passed out.”

“So what did happen?”

“Daddy had a long lost twin. Uncle Claudius apparently left when they were fourteen and joined the merchant marines. His name was never mentioned before yesterday.”

“Twins really run in the Blossom family, huh?”

“I guess.” Cheryl shrugged.

“So your long lost uncle is back?” Toni asked and Cheryl nodded. “How are you doing with that?”  

“Still processing.” Cheryl let go of Toni’s hands and ran her hand through her hair and looked at one of the large kettles. “I wish I could get out of here for a little.”

“We could still go somewhere after dinner?”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to leave. It’s been a long weekend and I don’t feel like making mother angrier for the time being.”

“I can go if me being here is a problem.”

“No,” Cheryl said instantly, taking Toni’s hands again. She looked back at her. “I can handle this level of mother’s wrath.”

“What exactly is this level of wrath?”

“Nothing too bad. Mumsy needs to keep up appearances. I’m guessing yesterday she was moderately polite while kicking half the town out of the house.” Toni nodded. “I don’t know what her relationship with Uncle Claudius, but for right now I think she still needs to keep up her appearance at the house.”

“So that means,” Toni’s voice faded a little.

“I don’t think she’s going to hurt me. Physically.”

“But she has before?”

Cheryl wanted to look away. She wanted to lie. The only person she had told was Jason. But the way Toni was looking at her, she felt safe and she nodded. Toni rubbed the back of Cheryl’s hands with her thumbs. “It wasn’t much and it was never anything _that_ bad.”

“Cheryl, anything like that is bad. It doesn’t matter how severe it was. No one is allowed to hurt you.” Cheryl nodded a little and Toni pulled her in for a hug and held her tightly.

“I wish we could spend more time together,” Cheryl said quietly, a little nervously.

“I think I have an idea.”

Cheryl pulled away and look at Toni excitedly.


	16. Chapter 16

Toni looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She felt fairly ridiculous. The yellow baseball shirt and short shorts were fine. But the knee-highs and the tennis shoes with pom-poms on them, they were a bit more than Toni had signed on for. Toni played with the hem of her shirt a little and then pulled it up a little, knotting it off to the side so that it showed off some of her abs.

“You ready TT?” Cheryl asked from the door to the bathroom.

“I may be regretting this a little.” Toni turned to face Cheryl.

“Wow,” Cheryl said. “You look, you look-”

“Ridiculous.” Toni finished for her.

“I was going to say hot.”

“You look hot. I look kind of ridiculous.”

Cheryl bit her lip a little and moved closer to Toni. “Ridiculous looks good on you then.” Toni laughed a little. “Are you actually regretting your decision?”

“No,” Toni instantly took Cheryl’s hands in her own. “A hundred percent excited.”

“Good, cause you’ll be doing a solo routine.”

“I’m doing a what now?”

“It’s tradition. Since you’re now trying out, you have to do a routine for everyone. Don’t worry, you’ll kill it.” Cheryl gave her a wink.

They were looking at each other, unconsciously moving close and closer to the other. Toni leaned even closer, getting ready to kiss Cheryl when they heard other girls talking as they walked through the locker room. Cheryl and Toni quickly pulled apart, clearing their throats.

“I should get ready for my routine.” Toni gestured to the door.

“Break a leg.” Cheryl smiled back at her. She gave Toni’s hand a squeeze. “You’ll knock ‘em dead.” She then walked back out of the bathroom.

 

Toni left the locker room after practice and started walking towards the main entrance of the school. “Didn’t know yellow was your color.” A familiar voice said from behind her.

Toni turned and saw Sweet Pea resting against some lockers. “What are you doing here?”

“Detention.” He shrugged. And moved towards her. “But that meant I got to catch the end of your dance. Pretty good Topaz.” Toni rolled her eyes and started to walk again. Sweet Pea followed. “River Vixen? Any specific reason you joined?”

“Felt like it.”

“Not because of a red head who happens to be the captain?”

“You’re still on that?”

“It’s cute to see you have a crush.”

Toni stopped walking and faced Sweet Pea, who also stopped walking. “For the last time. I don’t have a cr-”

“Toni!” They both looked and saw Cheryl walking over to them. “Am I interrupting something?” She gestured between them.

“No,” Toni said quickly. She turned to fully face Cheryl.

“I just wanted to tell you, you did an amazing job.”

“Thanks.”

Sweet Pea looked between them, their smiles getting wider and wider. Cheryl was telling Toni the various logistics of the squad. She paused and then looked at Sweet Pea and then back at Toni.

“Hey, uh Sweets, give us a sec?” Toni asked, looking at Sweet Pea.

“Sure.” Sweet Pea walked further down the hall, away from the girls.

“What’s up?” Toni asked Cheryl.

“My Uncle Claudius. There is something off about him. I don’t know what it is but I can sense that there is something wrong. Last night, there was someone walking near my room in the middle of the night.”

“Maybe someone had to go to the bathroom?” Toni suggested.

“Nana Rose wouldn’t be able to get out of bed on her own, and mother is on the other side of the house. There is no reason that anyone would be near my room.” Cheryl said quickly and hushed.

“Do you feel unsafe?”

“I don’t know,” Cheryl sighed. She looked around the hall a little. “Maybe a little more than normal, but not completely.”

Toni paused, she wanted to invite Cheryl to spend the night with her, but Toni barely had a place to sleep herself, let alone to bring Cheryl. “I can try to find you a place to stay but it might take a little while.” She paused and looked a little awkward. “Unfortunately, the name Blossom doesn’t go over too well in the Southside.”

“I can’t anyways. I don’t need mother on high alert.”

“If you feel unsafe, you call me or text me,” Toni said firmly.

“I will.” Cheryl glanced at Sweet Pea who was waiting by the door. “You should get back to your friend.”

“You sure?” Toni searched Cheryl’s face for any indicator she was lying.

“Go,” Cheryl nodded. She watched Toni walk over to Sweet Pea before walking in the other direction.

“Everything okay Tiny?” Sweet Pea asked, opening the door.

“I gotta get to work.”

 

The Whyte Wyrm was mostly empty, just a couple of the older Serpents were playing pool. Fangs and Sweet Pea walked over to the bar where Toni was wiping down the counter.

“Two beers.” Fangs said as he sat down in one of the stools.

“ID?” Toni asked.

“I know that you know how old I am. Why are we playing this game?”

“Ask your buddy,” Toni said and got out two glasses that she filled with water and handed them to the guys.

“Is this because I made fun of you for joining the River Vixens?” Sweet Pea asked.

Fangs chocked on his sip of water. “You joined the River Vixens?” He asked trying hard not to laugh.

“Yes. So what?” She glared at them both.

“Nothing,” Fangs said quickly, putting his hands up.

“So is that why we’re stuck with water?” Sweet Pea asked.

“You can have soda.” She smirked.

Sweet Pea sighed and sat down. “You win this round Topaz.” He drank some of his water. Toni took a couple of beers over to the pool table and then walked back. She started to wipe the bar down again. “You sure you’re okay?” Sweet Pea asked again.

“Yeah,” Toni breathed out.

“Toni?” Fangs asked.

“Just thinking,” she said. She looked up and saw them both watching her. “Do you know of someplace safe that someone could crash for a couple of nights?”

“You’re always welcome at my trailer.” Sweet Pea said. Toni moved her head a little. “What?”

“I appreciate it, and I am so grateful for that. But it’s,” her voice faded a little. “Not for me.”

“Who’s it for?” Fangs started to snack on the bowl of nuts that were on the bar. Toni looked back down at the bar and made a slight face as she exhaled a little.

“I can only think of a couple of places but they’re all on the Southside.” Sweet Pea said.

“Probably wouldn’t work.”

“Isn’t there a mattress upstairs?” Fangs asked.

“Okay I don’t even sleep there.”

“We can fix it up. We’ll make it nicer than the Pembroke.”

“That doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s above this dive.”

“What are you calling a dive?” FP walked over and sat on the stool on the other side of Fangs.

“I think the Wyrm is the definition of ‘dive bar’,” Toni said. “It’s not a problem, except not a great place to spend the night.”

“It’s not that bad. I used to crash up there when I was too drunk to go back home. It was actually kind of quiet up there. And there’s a locked backdoor so you don’t have to come and go through here.”

“Huh,” Toni said as she thought.

“I can get you a key. You are more than welcome to use the attic whenever you need it.”

“Thanks FP.”

“Anytime Toni.” He gave her a warm smile and then got up and moved to the pool table and started to talk to the other guys.

“Toni,” Sweet Pea said and Toni looked back at him. “We’ll figure something out.”

“Thank you.” Toni paused and then pulled out two bottles of beer. “Here you go.” She said handing them to the guys.


	17. Chapter 17

Toni was confused about the ‘Inner Circle’ sleepover. She had seen Cheryl interact with Veronica and Josie on occasion, but not that often. She seemed genuinely friendly with the girls, but it was clear her walls were still high up around them. Toni had no idea why Betty was there, she had seen Cheryl talk to her maybe twice and she was likely still not over the whole blackmail thing. But Toni didn’t question Cheryl about it. She figured Cheryl had her reasons and she didn’t want to make Cheryl uncomfortable in the slightest.

The previous night, Toni had gotten a text at around two in the morning from Cheryl, convinced that someone was trying to get into her room. Toni had offered to come and get her, or at least come over but Cheryl quickly responded saying that she had boarded up the door and would figure something out later in the day. Apparently that something included fancy dressing gowns and parlor games.

Toni came over a little early so that Cheryl could pick out the perfect dressing gown for her. She watched Cheryl in her closet, looking through the various gowns that she apparently owned for occasions like this. This seemed all too much like before the will-reading and Toni was nervous that Penelope could be eavesdropping on them again.

She walked over to Cheryl and put her hand on Cheryl’s arm. “You okay?” Cheryl shrugged. She played with the end of one of the gowns a little. “What’s up?” Toni asked, moving a little closer to her.

“The other girls,” Cheryl started. She was looking at the gown. “They don’t know about a lot of things. They know my mother is horrid and everything but they don’t really _know_.”

“I won’t tell them anything. You set the pace for the night and I’ll follow. I can react to things like I’m hearing them for the first time.”

“Thank you.” She sighed. “This one.” Cheryl held up a gown for Toni.

Toni chuckled a little looking at it. It was very different from anything she had ever worn before. “Thanks.”

“They don’t really know about us either.” Cheryl was still looking at the gown.

“You mean that we’re friends?” Toni asked slowly. She examined the gown a little more.

“I mean they know we’re friends, they just don’t know we’re close friends.” Cheryl looked at Toni for the first time.

Toni looked back at Cheryl. “Got it. Like I said: it’s your night, you do what you’re comfortable with and I’ll follow.”

“I don’t know how to thank you.”

“You don’t have to. This is what friends are for.” She gave Cheryl a reassuring smile and Cheryl gave a small one back. “I should change before the other’s arrive,” Toni said and then moved to the bathroom.

Toni had never really had girl friends. Let alone, rich friends. So she had never really done the whole slumber party thing. She was used to sleeping at other people’s houses, she had been doing that since her dad had left. But that was very different from an actual sleepover, let alone a sleepover in a literal mansion. Toni was completely out of her element but she trusted Cheryl. So she went along with games she had never heard of like Tiddlywinks and Fictionary.

Nana Rose was in the next room, watching her TV. Cheryl would glance back at her every now and then to make sure she was okay. Occasionally Penelope or Claudius would make an appearance and Cheryl would busy herself in whatever they were doing.

After a while, Nana Rose was taken to bed and the house seemed to fall silent. Cheryl stood up. “I think it’s time to retire to the bedroom.” They went up to Cheryl’s room and somehow ended up in a line brushing each other’s hair.

Cheryl was sitting right behind Toni, brushing her hair. This was unlike anything she had experienced before. She had never realized just how intimate of a thing brushing hair could be. Cheryl’s hands were running through her hair. Toni felt completely at ease and relaxed.

Then Cheryl got up and moved to the door. She peered out and then closed the door behind herself and approached the group a little apprehensively. “Inner circle, cousin Betty. I didn’t just bring you to Thistlehouse for a girls’ slumber party. The truth is I’m terrified of being alone here. There’s a stranger in this house. My uncle Claudius, he’s as mad as the sea, and ever since he blew in, I feel like I’m in mortal peril.”

“Wait, I’m confused. Is this real or are we playing a game?” Toni asked. Some of the games they had played were fairly odd.

“All too real, TT.”

“I feel like they’re plotting against me and Nana Rose. Mumsy cultivates esoteric herbs in the conservatory. Tannis root, jimsonweed. I’m afraid to eat for fear of being poisoned.”

“Cheryl, are you sure you’re not imagining things?” Josie asked.

“Well, if she is, Josie, then maybe I am too,” Betty said. “There’s a stranger in my life as well. Chic. With him lurking behind every corner, my house feels --”

“Dangerous.” Cheryl finished for her. “Deadly. I sympathize.”

“Well,” Toni started carefully. “We are here, so you’ll be safe for the night.”

Cheryl gave her a small smile.

“Bed?” Josie asked.

“Yes, I might actually get some sleep without worrying about Chic,” Betty said.

The others got up and began to spread pillows and blankets out on the floor. Toni had slept on the floor more times than she could count so she had no issue sleeping on the floor. The carpeting in Cheryl’s bedroom alone was significantly softer than a trailer floor with several blankets on it.

“Toni?” Cheryl asked softly.

“Yeah?” Toni looked over at Cheryl who was by the closet. Cheryl shifted a little awkwardly. Toni got up and walked over to her. “What’s up?” She asked glancing back at the others. None of them were playing them any attention.

“You don’t have to do that,” she motioned to the floor.

“I’m going to take advantage of your nice pillows.”

“You can. I just mean,” her voice faded. “If you wanted to,” she started again. “My bed is big.”

“Are you asking me to sleep in your bed?”

“If you want to,” Cheryl said quickly. “It’s totally okay if you don’t.”

“Of course I will.”

They looked over at the others who were finishing getting the blankets out. Betty was already starting to lay down.

“Are you guys going to bed too?” Veronica asked as she sat down beside Betty.

“We’re not going to bed together,” Cheryl said quickly.

Veronica looked between Cheryl and Toni. “I didn’t say that.”

“It just seems a little crowded down there.” Cheryl motioned.

“Right,” Veronica and Josie said.

Toni moved around to the side of the bed as Josie laid down. Veronica watched Cheryl for a moment as Cheryl moved to get into the other side of the bed. Veronica lay down as well.

“Man,” Toni said as she relaxed on the bed. “This is by far the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in.” She looked over at Cheryl. “You sure? I mean I am more than fine on the floor.”

There were dozens of questions that Cheryl wanted to ask Toni. But she didn’t want to overstep her boundaries at all. She wasn’t used to actually caring about someone the way she cared about Toni. She usually just said what she wanted to, not worrying about how it would affect the other person and their relationship. But with Toni, she didn’t want to lose her. “I mean you’re already up here, you might as well stay.”

Toni laughed a little and then lay flat again. They laid there for a little in silence. Cheryl was trying to fall asleep, but her mind was racing. She had so many questions for Toni and so many things that she wanted to tell her. But the others were on the floor. Cheryl looked over at Toni and everything else seemed to disappear. She was still not over just how beautiful Toni was. She could not believe that Toni was next to her in her bed.

Cheryl looked back up at the ceiling and took a breath. “Full disclosure,” she said barely above a whisper. She felt Toni glance at her so Cheryl turned fully onto her side. Toni did the same so they were looking right at each other, with little space between them. “I didn’t want to invite all the girls tonight. But I knew my hideous mother would never allow me to invite just you.” Toni smiled and Cheryl paused. “Which is,” Her eyes were jumping all over Toni’s face, trying to gauge her reaction. Toni’s eyes were locked on Cheryl’s lips. She wanted to kiss Cheryl so badly. She had for so long. “What I craved.”

Toni looked back up into Cheryl’s eyes. She was letting her guard completely down, she was being vulnerable and Toni knew this wasn’t easy for her. Toni moved closer to Cheryl and almost instantly, Cheryl moved closer to her. Toni closed her eyes in anticipation for the kiss. Their lips were so close to touching when there was suddenly a loud crashing sound.

Cheryl instantly pulled away, pulling the sheets off of her self so that she could get out of the bed. She ran out of the room, quickly followed by Toni and then the other girls. She looked down the staircase and screamed when she saw Nana Rose sprawled out at the bottom of the steps.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm back after an extremely long break. I got kinda stuck on this fic and forgot to update with the chapters that I had finished. I recently got a new reader who left some very lovely and heartfelt comments and I wanted to try my best to finish this story. I mostly started writing this for myself and because I kept writing scenes in my head and couldn't get them to go away. But seeing people enjoy it and be impacted by my writing is just such a surreal feeling. I've recently rediscovered my love of writing and it means a lot to see people enjoying what I've written. So I hope you continue to enjoy this fic and that I do justice in finishing this story.
> 
> I've actually been writing up a storm tonight and my hope is to finish writing soonish. There will probably be like 23 or 24 chapters total. 
> 
> Also I haven't scene any of season 3 yet (I just binge it when it's on Netflix) but it's not like that will really impact this fic. Thanks for reading all of my random thoughts.

They stood outside of Thistlehouse as Nana Rose was being loaded into the ambulance. The EMT talked to Claudius and Penelope and Cheryl and Toni watched from a little ways away. Toni wanted to do something, she wanted to rub Cheryl’s back, touch her in some way so that Cheryl knew she was there. But there were so many people around, and especially with Penelope nearby, she knew that being too intimate with Cheryl could potentially lead to more problems.

Toni watched as Cheryl’s face turned from concern to anger. Cheryl crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Cheryl, what is it?” She asked quietly.

“He’s wearing my father’s pajamas,” Cheryl said angrily.

“What?” Toni looked at Penelope and Claudius. They were standing close together, talking while Penelope looked back at Cheryl.

“My uncle.” Cheryl looked at Toni, and Toni looked back at her. “Toni,” Cheryl was watching her mother again. “I think they pushed my nana down the stairs. I think I’m next.”

“She’ll be okay.” Toni moved a little closer to Cheryl. “ _You’ll_ be okay.”

Cheryl faced Toni again, moving a little closer. She took a breath. Toni recognized that Cheryl’s guard was completely down again. “I’m scared Toni.”

“I know.” Toni looked around before looking back at Cheryl. “I won’t leave you tonight. You’ll be safe. And then tomorrow we can go and see your nana. I won’t leave you until you feel safe.”

“You won’t?” Cheryl asked, her voice sounding hopeful.

“Not until you tell me to go.” She wanted to hold Cheryl’s hands; she wanted to make sure Cheryl knew she was serious.

The ambulance drove away and Penelope and Claudius walked towards the house. “Try not to stay up too long, you look like you could use the sleep,” Penelope said to Cheryl as she passed them. “Sweet dreams.”

Toni watched Penelope and Claudius disappear back into the house. “Hey,” she said. She instantly took Cheryl’s hands in her own. “Don’t listen to her.” Cheryl looked back at Toni. “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know what I want.” She exhaled. “I just want my nana to be alright.”

“And she will be. She’ll be away from your mother and uncle and will be safe with the doctors.”

“Hey, Cheryl?” Veronica asked a little awkwardly. She had walked over and was only a couple of feet from Cheryl and Toni. They looked over at her. “What would you like us to do? We’ll do whatever you want, just let us know what we can do.”

“Whatever,” Cheryl said coolly. She didn’t care about the others she just wanted Toni. And now she didn’t care what the other’s thought or what her mother had to say. She just wanted Toni.

Toni watched Cheryl, trying to figure out what Cheryl wanted. “You guys can go, we’ll be fine.”

Veronica nodded. “We can get our stuff later.”

“Do you want to try to sleep?” Toni offered.

Cheryl nodded and they walked back to the house. Cheryl didn’t even bother to acknowledge the other girls. They walked wordlessly through the silent house. Thistlehouse had never felt so eerie to Cheryl. But as they started the stairs, Toni took her hand and Cheryl felt herself relax some. When they got in Cheryl’s room, Toni made sure to lock the door behind them and lodged a chair back under the knob as an added precaution. She turned and saw Cheryl standing beside the bed, watching her. Toni moved to the bed and Cheryl shifted a little uncomfortable.

“Did you want me to sleep on the floor?” Toni asked.

“No.” Cheryl smiled a little. She almost looked nervous. “Could you,” she started but her voice faded. She started to get into her bed. Toni stood by the side of the bed, still a little unsure of what Cheryl wanted. “Would it be weird for us to sleep together? Not like sleep together but like go to sleep together.” Cheryl was starting to ramble a little.

“Are you asking if I can hold you?” Toni asked a little cautiously.

Cheryl breathed out a sigh of relief, glad that Toni knew what she meant without having to actually say it. “I mean if you want.” Cheryl tried to sound casual.

Toni got into the bed, smiling. “It would make me feel better, that I’d know you were safe.”

Cheryl smiled back as Toni laid down, closer to the middle of the bed. Cheryl faced the opposite direction and felt herself relax more as Toni’s arm wrapped around her chest. “Thank you.” Cheryl said barely above a whisper. “I really mean it.”

 

Cheryl woke up confused for a moment. She felt an arm around her stomach. She took a look at the arm and relaxed again, realizing it was Toni’s. Then the memories of the rest of the previous night came back to Cheryl. Nana Rose falling down the stairs. Her uncle wearing her father’s pajamas. The close relationship that her mother and uncle seemed to be fostering. And Toni. The way Toni had been so kind, so supportive. And they had almost kissed.

Panic set into Cheryl a little and she pulled away. All she wanted to do was to kiss Toni. But she knew that was the last thing that she should do. She couldn’t bring Toni into her world any more than she was already in. She got out of bed and began to get dressed.

After a minute or so, Toni stirred a little. “Morning,” Toni said rubbing her eyes a little.

“Good morning,” Cheryl said in an oddly chipper voice. She was already dressed for the day and currently pulling back the curtains to the window.

“Are you okay?” Toni asked sitting up a little.

“Peachy. Mumsy is likely still asleep, so we should get to the hospital before she wakes up.”

“Cheryl,” Toni got up out of the bed. “You don’t need to,” she paused. Toni didn’t know the best way to phrase it. “You can talk to me.”

“We don’t have time to talk.” Cheryl said matter of factly, but significantly less fake than she had before.

Toni moved to find her bag and began to change. Cheryl looked away a little. “So do you want to drive yourself or come with me?”

Cheryl glanced over at Toni who was currently not wearing a shirt, facing the other direction. She paused for a second, trying to remember what she was going to say. “I’ll go with you. That’s probably easier.”

Toni turned to face Cheryl. She pulled her shirt on. “You know that means my motorcycle.”

Cheryl’s face fell a little. “Right.”

“Don’t worry.” Toni swung her bag over her shoulder and walked to Cheryl. “I won’t go too fast.” She walked over to the door and opened it.

Cheryl took a deep breath and then quickly followed Toni out of the room. They quietly walked through the house and out the side door. Toni’s motorcycle wasn’t parked too far from the house.

“Here you go,” Toni handed Cheryl her helmet.

“What about you?”

“I’ll be fine. Just hold on tight.” Toni said as she got on the bike. Cheryl looked at the bike apprehensively. Toni just gave her a reassuring smile. Cheryl sighed a little and then put the helmet over her head and got on the bike behind Toni, wrapping her arms tightly around her waist.

The motorcycle ride provided a good distraction for Cheryl. She was too busy worrying about them crashing for her to think about Nana Rose. Toni seemed to know what she was doing and wasn’t driving recklessly or anything but doctors did call motorcyclists ‘organ donors’ for a reason. Plus if they did crash, Toni wasn’t wearing a helmet and could get seriously hurt. She was busy imagining Toni in the hospital or even dead that she didn’t notice they were pulling into the hospital parking lot. Toni parked the bike and got off and then extended her hand to help Cheryl get off.

“You survived,” Toni smirked.

“I did.” Cheryl handed Toni the helmet. “But I think it’ll be a while before I go on that again.” She looked at the helmet again. “Might be nice if you didn’t ride it for a while either.”

“Are you worrying about me again?”

“I just don’t need to visit two people in the hospital.”

“Are you ready to go in?”

Cheryl nodded and took Toni’s hand in her own as they walked towards the building. Toni almost had to sprint to keep up with Cheryl’s pace as she strode through the hospital. They were quickly directed to the correct hospital room.

Nana Rose was laying in the bed, looking peaceful. She was attached to various machines but it seemed like a hospital visit was a nice break away from Penelope. Cheryl instantly moved a chair so that it was right beside the hospital bed. She sat down and took her grandmother’s hand in her own. Toni looked around the room a little and moved the other chair over so that she was sitting beside Cheryl but also gave them some space.

“You should go to school.” Cheryl said after a while. She glanced over at Toni.

“Are you going to go?”

“My GPA can handle a days absence. I’ll stay here with Nana.”

“I’m not leaving you.” Toni was looking at Cheryl.

Cheryl sighed and then looked over at Toni. “I know. I really appreciate you being here. But I’ll be okay.”

Toni took Cheryl’s free hand. “Are you sure?”

Cheryl nodded wordlessly. “I’m sure.” She glanced back at Nana Rose. “I doubt mother cares enough to check in on her. Not when there are tricks to be turning back at home.”

Toni squeezed Cheryl’s hand. “I’ll come back after school.”

“Thank you, Toni,” Cheryl said giving Toni a genuine smile.

Toni smiled back and then walked out of the hospital room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully, I'll be back to a somewhat regular schedule. But if you've put up with me from the start then you know how likely that is.   
> Really the only social I'm on is twitter: shaw_dog21 but it's mostly me geeking out over fictional queer ladies.


	19. Chapter 19

Toni walked through the hospital towards the room that Nana Rose was in. She walked into the room and saw Nana Rose laying in the hospital bed but there was no sign of Cheryl. The seat that Cheryl had pulled over was still sitting where she had left it. She pulled out her phone and called Cheryl. The call went straight to voicemail. She ended the phone call. Toni walked around the room a little, looking for some indication of where Cheryl was still there.

“Can I help you?” A nurse asked from the doorway.

Toni turned moved towards her a little. “I’m uh, a friend of the family. I was looking for Cheryl Blossom.”

“Miss Blossom left a couple of hours ago with her mother.”

Toni shook her head. “No, that’s not possible. Cheryl said she was going to be here all day.”

“Plans change.” The nurse shrugged and then walked out of the room.

Toni stood there for a moment. There was no way that Cheryl would have left her grandmother alone in the hospital, let alone go with her mother. The nurse had no reason to lie to Toni but she knew that the Blossom family had strong holds on people. Or maybe Cheryl had left with Penelope, but there would have to be a good reason for that.

Toni wasn’t sure what she should do.

 

Toni walked up to the front door of Thistlehouse and rang the bell. The door almost instantly opened as if someone was waiting for her. And Penelope came into view.

“Mrs. Blossom, hi.” Toni crossed her arms in front of her chest. She sighed a little; she knew if she was dealing with Penelope, it couldn’t be good. “I’m looking for Cheryl. She wasn’t at the hospital with her nana.” She made sure to look Penelope directly in the eyes.

“No, she’s gone.” Penelope said fairly casually. “Boarding school in Switzerland. All girls. She left just last night.”

Toni scoffed a little. “Mrs. Blossom, that doesn’t make any sense.”

“Don’t come here again.” Penelope said and then closed the door on Toni before she could respond.

Toni had barely walked ten feet from the front door before she was calling Cheryl. The phone went straight to voicemail and she heard Cheryl’s voice “It’s Cheryl, I’m off doing something fabu. Leave a message. If you must.” Toni’s heart sank a little; Cheryl’s phone was never off. She ended the call, unsure of what to say.

Without thinking, she drove to the Whyte Wyrm. It was fairly crowded; Sweet Pea was sitting by the bar by himself. She walked over to him and sat beside him, motioning to the bartender for a beer and then rested her head against his arm.

“Hey,” he said gently. He peered over at her trying his best not to move his arm. “What’s going on?”

The bartender put a beer in front of Toni but she didn’t move. “I’m worried about Cheryl,” Toni finally said.

“Yeah?”

“Her mother claims she’s at a boarding school in Switzerland but I don’t know.” Toni’s voice faded.

“You feel like she’s not there?”

“I feel like she would have said goodbye beforehand.” She paused. “Or at least I think she would have.” Toni sat up and started to drink her beer. Sweet Pea put his arm around her and gave her arm a squeeze.

“Have you called her?”

“That’s the other thing!” Toni moved to face him. “Her phone is going right to voicemail. She hasn’t been on social media at all.”

“And that’s weird?”

Toni tilted her head. “We’re talking about Cheryl Blossom. C’mon she posted five different collections of pictures of herself from that drag race on her Instagram.”

“How far back in her feed have you gone?”

“My point is, Cheryl wouldn’t move to Europe and not post anything about it.”

“So where do you think she is?”

“I have no idea.” Toni put her forehead against her hands, against the bar. “And it’s not like her mother is going to tell me anything else. She was pissed enough that I went to their house in the first place.”

“Do you want me to help you?”

Toni sat back up. “I don’t even know where to start looking for her.” She shrugged. “Maybe I’m over thinking everything. She could be fine.”

“You don’t really believe that do you?”

Toni shook her head. “I’ll try calling her again. Maybe her phone was just dead.”

 

Cheryl starred at the padded walls of her “room”. She wanted to close her eyes, to go to sleep. She was exhausted enough from moving all of those bags and the drugs didn’t help either. But every time she closed her eyes, all she could see were those movies they had to watch.

She wasn’t crying. She was too tired to cry. Cheryl tried to think of something, anything, other than those movies. A male voice was saying “they succumbed and were ensnared by deviants” played over and over again in her head.

When she was younger, Cheryl would often hide in her room after Penelope had hit her or shouted at her just a little too much. Jason would often find her hiding under her bed or in her closet and he would sing to her until she would sing along. She wished Jason was there with her now; he would have been able to prevent her from being locked up in this place.

She tried to think of something else, thinking about Jason would just make her cry again. She tried to think of a song, any song that she had heard recently, that she could potentially sing quietly to herself.

“Wanna be loved every night,” came to her mind quickly followed by “wanna know she’s only mine.” Cheryl smiled a little to herself as she continued to sing the song quietly to herself. When she got to the chorus she smiled a little more, thinking of Toni. She thought of how Toni had held her so close the other night. Cheryl had felt so safe in her arms; she never wanted to leave them. She had no idea if Toni would find her, let alone come and try to rescue her, but that was her only hope. Cheryl closed her eyes as she continued to sing the song; thinking about Toni and for the first time was able to sleep.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that season 3 is up on Netflix, I'm finally watching it and that helped inspire me to finally finish this up. They haven't had much screen time but I am loving the domestic choni in the background. Anyways, hope you enjoy and as always I love reading any and all comments. They mean the world to me.

Toni pried the lock off of the door with a crowbar and then opened up the door. She put the crowbar back in her bag and led Veronica through the tunnel.

“When we get to the main building, what happens then?” Veronica asked when they got down from the ladder.

“We search each and every damn room until we find her.” Toni said sternly. Veronica simply nodded and then continued down the tunnel. The halls of the building were eerily empty.  
“Okay, let’s split up. We’ll cover twice the ground.”

“Okay. But be careful.”

“Okay.” Toni walked quickly around the building, peering into every room she passed, calling Cheryl’s name. She continued to run when she heard noise coming from a room. She called Cheryl’s name again, praying that she would hear Cheryl respond. Toni burst through the door and looked around, trying her best to see beyond the projector that was right in her face. “Cheryl, are you in here?”

“Toni?” Cheryl asked confused as she stood up.

“We came to rescue you.” Toni could feel herself relaxing now that she had seen Cheryl.

“You did?”

Toni nodded. She was breathing heavily. Cheryl quickly walked over to her, right into Toni’s arms. In that moment she felt so safe resting her head on Toni’s shoulder, Toni’s hand on the back of her neck. They pulled apart a little and Toni’s hand moved to Cheryl’s cheeks. Then Toni pulled her close again and they kissed. It felt like the world had stopped and nothing existed besides the two of them. They continued to kiss.

Veronica’s voice interrupted them. “Cheryl, Toni, there are a bunch of nuns coming. We have to go, come on!”

Cheryl and Toni glanced at each other before quickly following Veronica out. Cheryl refused to drop Toni’s hand as they ran through the halls, down the stairs, and through the damp corridor. The only time they let go of one another was when they were climbing up the ladder.

“C’mon,” Kevin shouted as they reached the door to the sewer. And once they were all through he and Toni closed the door and Toni stuck the crowbar through where the lock once was. They ran over to Veronica and Cheryl, who had her hand stretched out and Toni instantly took it as they continued to run.

Kevin drove through the woods, glancing back to make sure he wasn’t being followed. He glanced in the back of the truck and saw Cheryl completely curled into Toni, her face buried in Toni’s chest. Toni had her arms wrapped around her and was stroking her hair a little. Her head was also turned; Kevin figured she was talking to Cheryl.

“Where to?” Kevin asked a little awkwardly, not wanting to interrupt their moment.

“The Pembroke,” Veronica instantly answered.

“No,” Toni pulled herself away from Cheryl a little. “We can’t go anywhere on the Northside.”

“Do you have a place in mind then?”

“I do.” Toni said firmly. “I know a place that Penelope Blossom will never think to look.” They drove in silence until they reached the Whyte Wyrm. “Pull around to the back.”

“Here?” Veronica asked, not bothering to hide the judgment in her voice.

“It’s safe here. No one here will bother either of us. And if by some chance Penelope finds us, everyone in that bar will protect us. They are my family and Serpents protect their family. I appreciate everything you both have done, but I don’t trust either of your families.”

“I get it.” Kevin said. He looked at Veronica pointedly.

“Okay fine,” Veronica mumbled.

“Do you need any help?”

“No,” Toni opened up the door. “We should be fine.” She got out of the truck and helped Cheryl get out. “I’ll text you if we need anything. Just don’t tell anyone, the fewer people that know where she is, the better for now.”

“Okay,” Kevin and Veronica said together.

“Thank you so much,” Toni said before closing the door.

Toni led Cheryl towards one of the back doors. She fumbled in her pocket for the key that FP had given her and unlocked the door. The door led to a staircase. Toni turned on the lights and then closed the door behind them. She led Cheryl up the stairs, holding tight onto Cheryl’s hand. The top of the stairs led to a hall and another door. Toni unlocked it with a separate key and then walked into the room. Cheryl dropped Toni’s hand.

The room wasn’t much. It was decent size and was furnished by some overflow from below. There was a mattress on the ground in the corner with a small, old TV beside it. Cheryl walked around the room a little awkwardly.

“I know it’s not the Pembroke, but I figured this was the safest option.” Toni said. She shifted a little on her feet. She hoped that she had made the right call.

“Different lock on a room above a dive bar,” Cheryl mused.

“Well I put on the lock on that door. The only people that have the key are me and FP but he doesn’t even know this is for you. No one else knows you are here.”

“Okay.” Cheryl said quietly.

“Did I do something wrong?” Toni asked. She moved a little towards Cheryl, but kept some distance.

“No.” Cheryl’s voice was still quiet. She turned and faced Toni. “You did everything right. You didn’t give up on me, ever.” She walked towards Toni as she continued. “Back when you yelled at Betty, back in English with _As You Like It_ , the diner, the will reading, the sleepover and hospital, you even broke me out of that hell.” She was standing right in front of Toni, maybe inches apart. “You did everything right.”

“I just want you safe and happy.”

“You are good, Toni Topaz.” Cheryl took Toni’s hands in hers. “You deserve the world.”

Toni smiled back at Cheryl. She knew that she’d have to take things slow with Cheryl, especially now. But everything Cheryl was saying, was giving Toni hope.

“And that’s why we shouldn’t have kissed.”

 


End file.
